Shire Umbaal

Shire Umbaal, also spelled Shire Cumbaal, was a Darawiish whistleblower who reported an attempted political overtrhow that was attempted upon the leadership of the Darawiish at the end of the 1900s decade. According to a 1910 intelligence report from the British Aden colony documenting a battle between Darawiish and native auxiliaries of the Italians, Shire Umbaal, spelled in the report as Shire Ambaleh, was described as among the top three highest ranked Darawiish commanders, alongside Nur Hedik and Adam Maleh. The report states that he died in 1910:

"The Dervishes loss was undoubtedly severe, and included the following leaders: Adam Maleh, also Shireh Ambaleh, killed. Nur Hedig, shot through both legs."

Shire Umbaal was in 1910 described at the Parliament of the United Kingdom, specifically by Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe as "a very important leader of the Dervishes".

A native Somali sources states that Shire Umbaal was employed as a leader and organizer of a British orchestrated coup d'état, but that Shire Umbaal subsequently turned on the British colonialists and their native conspirators:

Noted Somali author Said Samatar in his book Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism also described the Shire Umbaal incident in his book. Many other individuals have also commentated on the tumultuous nature of the incident of Shire Umbaal's whistleblowing, with authors describing it as having precipitated a Somali civil war:

"One of the associates, Shire Cumbaal, changed his mind and alerted the Sayid. Consequently, fighting erupted between troops loyal to Sayid."

Among the three motions put forward by Shire Umbaal and others was (a) to kill the Sayid and replace him with another person, (b) to merely demote the Sayid of all his positions without killing him, (c) to completely dismantle the Darawiish anti-colonial struggle. After a lengthy debate, the third choice was chosen, however Shire Umbaal subsequently turned against the Darawiish defectors and conspirators:

"no sooner did the meeting end than one of the participants, Shire Cumbaal alerted the mullah. The result was a bloody battle between the loyalists and the conspirators' clans."