# Sultan Mohamoud Ali Shire (Maxamuud Cali Shire)

> Sultan Mohamoud Ali Shire (d.1960): Warsangali sultan, Dervish ally, exiled to the Seychelles in 1920.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/mohamoud-ali-shire/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who was he?

Mohamoud Ali Shire was Sultan of the Warsangali Sultanate, also called its Senior Akil, centred on Las Khorey; he died in 1960 ([Wikipedia, Mohamoud Ali Shire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamoud_Ali_Shire)). See [The Warsangali Sultanate](/en/history/warsangali-sultanate/).

## Britain and the Dervishes

In 1886 he and other Warsangali elders signed a protectorate treaty with Britain, following similar treaties with other northern clans ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamoud_Ali_Shire)). He was father-in-law of [Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan](/en/people/sayid-maxamed-cabdulle-xasan/), and during the conflict between the Dervishes and Britain he sided with the Dervishes (same source). In January 1908 his men fired on a British ship about to land on their coast (same source). See [The Dervish movement](/en/history/dervish-movement-1899-1920/).

## Exile in the Seychelles

After the Dervish defeat in 1920, the British sentenced him to seven years' exile in the Seychelles ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamoud_Ali_Shire)). Wikipedia quotes Wardheer News that his "independent policy, strength and indifference to the powers surrounding him" had vexed [London](/en/diaspora/london/) (same source). He tried to escape from Berbera on 5 January 1920 and arrived in the Seychelles on HMS *Odin* on 3 May 1920 (same source).

He lived at Anse Etoile on Mahé and had to report to the police three times a day (same source). Other exiles there included the former Egyptian prime minister Saad Zaghloul, with whom he became friendly (same source). He wrote repeatedly asking to return, and sent letters home through Somali sailors to get round censorship (same source).

## In short

The Warsangali sultan who backed the Dervishes and was exiled by Britain to the Seychelles.

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