Please note that different sources provide different spellings for the Sheikal clan, including Shiqal, sheegal, Seekhaal, Shiikhaal, Shekal. According to the book The Invention of Somalia, the "Shiikhaal," are among the clan that claim descent from "the Quarayshitic lineage of the prophet Mohamed" (1995, 117). This source further states that qudhub, looboge, and gendarshe have a common Arab ancestor "Figi Cumar" but that "each subclan has a different genealogy for the same ancestor" (ibid.).

For additional information on the Sheikal please consult Response to Information Request SOM9825 of 2 December 1991 available at Regional Documentation Centres. For information on the affliation between the Hawiye and the Sheikal, please consult the following Responses to Information Requests: SOM21492.E of 14 August 1995 and SOM18957.E of 9 November 1994 available at your Regional Documentation Centres. For a genealogy of the three subclans of the Sheikal, please see the attached chart.

Information on whether the father of the clan migrated with his three sons to Somalia 11 generations ago, on whether of the three subclans the reer loboge are the largest and the qudub the smallest could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request

The Invention of Somalia. Edited by Ali Jimale Ahmed. 1995. "The Nature of the Somali Clan System." Lawrenceville: NJ: The Red Sea Press.

The Invention of Somalia. Edited by Ali Jimale Ahmed. 1995. Lawrenceville: NJ: Red Sea Press, p. 126..

Africa Confidential [London]. Weekly.

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [London]. Monthly.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1995. 1996.

The Europa Year Book. 1996.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports. 1996.

Human Rights Watch World Report. 1996-97.

Horn of Africa Bulletin [Uppsala]. Bimonthly.

Jeune Afrique [Paris]. 1995 to present.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1994-1996.

New African [London]. Monthly.

On-line search on NEXIS database.

Two oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.