Rahanweyn (Digil and Mirifle clan family)

Name and family tree

The EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA) lists the Rahanweyn as one of five large Somali clan families. The others are the Dir, Isaaq, Darod and Hawiye (EUAA Country Guidance, 2025). The conflict-data project ACLED uses the same five (ACLED methodology, 2025). The name is Raxanweyn in standard Somali and Reewin in Maay.

The Rahanweyn trace descent to Saab, not to Samaale. The EUAA uses "Saab" as a name for the Rahanweyn, or Digil-Mirifle, family (EUAA Country Focus 2025, glossary). A UK Home Office report calls Saab "another alleged descendant of Prophet Mohammed". It notes that the Saab clans speak Maay, "quite distinct" from the Maxaa Somali of the other families (UK Home Office, CPIN Somalia: clans, 2019, quoting EASO 2014).

The anthropologist I. M. Lewis described the Rahanweyn as a "synthesis of old cultivating stock, and more recent and once nomadic immigrants from the other Somali clans" (Wikipedia, backup, quoting Lewis). Many lineages from other families have joined them over time (same source).

How the family is organised

The Austrian research centre ACCORD writes that the Rahanweyn structure is "considerably different" from that of nomadic families. Their clans are made of four to seven jilib that pay compensation together. They pay blood money "at a much higher level" in the lineage than pastoral groups do (ACCORD, Clans in Somalia, 2009, p. 13).

ACCORD adds that "their home state is more important for their identity than the clan". Their elders are "more hierarchical and tightly related to the villages" (p. 13).

Main branches

The family has two halves, the Digil and the Mirifle. The EASO records that the Mirifle are divided into two main groups, the Sagaal iyo Sideed, "the nine and the eight" (EASO 2021, Bakool).

The World Bank says "there is no clear agreement on the clan and subclan structures". It printed two charts from Somali research partners to show this (World Bank, Conflict in Somalia: Drivers and Dynamics, 2005, Appendix 2).

ACLED's 2025 coding list includes these groups (ACLED clan actor list, September 2025):

• Digil: Begedi, Dabarre, Garre, Geledi, Jambaluul, Jiido, Jilible, Shanta Caleemo and Tunni.
• Mirifle: Eelay, Emid, Gabaweyn, Hadame, Harin, Hubeer, Jiron, Leysan, Luwaay, Maalim Weyne and Yantaar.

Where they live

No census counts Somalis by clan. The Library of Congress put the Digil and Rahanweyn at about 20 percent of the population (Library of Congress). ACCORD wrote that they "may constitute at least 25 to 30 per cent" (ACCORD 2009, p. 11). The places below come from the EUAA, region by region.

History on record

• 1695 to 1900s. The Geledi Sultanate ruled from Afgooye. Its sultans were Digil. See the Geledi Sultanate.
• 1947 onward. The Hizbia Digil Mirifle party accepted Somali statehood but wanted a federal system. See the nationalist era.
• 1975. The Library of Congress records that the Digil and Rahanweyn had no members on the 20-member Supreme Revolutionary Council (Library of Congress).
• 13 October 1995. The Rahanweyn Resistance Army was founded after Aidid's forces took Baidoa. It took Baidoa in June 1999.
• 2002 and 2014. A South West State was declared in 2002. The current South West State was formed in 2014, with Baidoa as its working capital.

Elders and customary law

Senior Somali clan leaders carry titles such as suldaan, ugaas or issim. Their role is "mainly judicial and representative" (UK Home Office, CPIN Somalia: clans, 2019, quoting EASO 2014). Rahanweyn elders are tied more closely to villages, as ACCORD notes above. See xeer, Somali customary law.

Under the 4.5 formula, the Rahanweyn hold 61 of the 275 seats in the House of the People. See the Federal Parliament.

In recent conflict records

The EUAA lists clan conflicts from April 2023 to March 2025, using ACLED data (EUAA Country Focus 2025, section 1.5.1). Examples involving Rahanweyn groups:

• Gelidle (Mirifle) against Dabarre (Digil), in Diinsoor.
• Leysan (Mirifle) against South West State forces, at Bardaale.
• Garre against Jiido, both Digil, in Qoryooley.
• Geledi (Digil), with Wacdaan, against Habar Gidir (Hawiye), in Afgooye.
• Shanta Caleemo (Digil) and Mirifle clans against Gaaljecel (Hawiye), in Wanla Weyn.
• Gababweyn and Maalim Weyne (both Mirifle) on opposite sides in Luuq, Gedo, and Gelidle against Marehan (Darod) in Bardhere.

See clan conflicts, district by district.

Where sources differ

• One family or two. The two World Bank charts disagree on whether the Digil and Mirifle are one family. ACCORD notes that some count the Rahanweyn as identical with the Digil and Mirifle.
• Status. The UK Home Office report says the Saab clans are "sometimes" seen as lower than the Samaale, but that "there is no systematic discrimination". The EUAA writes that the Rahanweyn "are not a minority group but have long been treated as second-class citizens". It says they "suffered tremendously" from Hawiye and Darod militias in the 1990s (EUAA Country Focus 2025). It adds that since the mid-1990s they "gained power in south-western Somalia" (same source).
• Size. The Library of Congress and ACCORD give different shares, about 20 percent against 25 to 30 percent.

Read more

• Somali clans and lineage: how the system works
• The Somali clan tree: every clan and sub-clan
• Darod, Dir, Hawiye and Isaaq
• Somali language and its dialects
• Minority communities
• Begedi (Bagadi), a Digil clan
• Mirifle: Leysan, Hariin, Hadame, Eelay, Jiron, Luway and Hubeer
• Digil: Tunni, Garre, Jiiddu and Dabarre
• Gardere, Yakabur and Mayle (the "pre-Hawiye" group)