Reign 1835-1888 Successor Ughaz Roble II Religion Islam | Predecessor Ughaz Roble I Died 1898, Dirri | |
Ughaz Nur II' or Ugas Nur II' (Somali: Ugaas Nuur Ugaas Rooble , Arabic: سلطان نور سلطان ربلة ) also known as Ughaz Nur Robleh, was a Gadabursi King.
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History
The 11th in line of the Gadabursi Sultanate or Ughasate. The term Ughaz is an authentic Somali term for Sultan, the paramount leader.
He was born in Zayla in the year 1835 and crowned in Bagi in 1848. During his youth he loved riding, hunting and the traditional arts and memorized a great number of proverbs, stories and poems.Eventually Nur II came on to create his own store of sayings, poems and stories that are quoted to this day. He knew by heart the Gadabursi heer(customary law) and amended or added new heer during his reign. He was known for fair dealing to friend and stranger alike. It is said that he was the first Gadabursi Ughaz to introduce guards and askaris armed with arrows and bows.
During the time of Nur II both Egypt and Ethiopia were contending for power and supremacy in the Horn of Africa. To add the European colonial powers were also competing for strategic territories and ports in the Horn of Africa.
In the year 1876 Egypt using Islam as a bargaining chip signed a treaty with Ughaz Nuur and came to occupy the northern Somali coast which included Zayla, the seat of the Gadabuursi sultanate, but also to occupy the town of Harar and the Harar-Zeila-Berbera caravan route.
Ughaz Nuur went to Egypt to meet Ismail Pasha, the khedive, belonging to the Ottoman Empire, who honored the King of the Gadabuursi with medals and expensive gifts. The Ughaz there signed a treaty accepting Egyptian protection of Muslims in Somaliland and Ethiopia.
The Ughaz had established strong relations with the Emir of Harar, Abdallah II ibn Ali . In 1887, when Harar was occupied by Menelik II of Ethiopia, Ughaz Nur sent Gadabursi askaris to support Abdallah II ibn Ali. The emir of Harar was eventually defeated and Ras Makonnen was appointed "Ethiopian governor of Harar". Menelik II continued to turn his attention to the Gadabuursi and offered the King (Ughaz Nur) and his people protection and military support for collaboration, seemingly a trap Ughaz Nur refused and fought until he died in 1998. He was buried in Dirri.
Poem 1: ''Nin ii daran''.
The following are accounts from the "Gadabuursi Somali Script", by I'm Lewis, 1958 Note: Eebbe is an ancient and still-used Somali word for God.
Although the poem is much bigger according to Somali source.