| Warsheikh | |
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| — Town — | |
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Warsheikh
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Somalia |
| Region | Shabeellaha Dhexe |
| District | Warsheikh |
| Time zone | East Africa Time (UTC+3) |
Warsheikh (alt. spellings Warshiikh, Warsheekh, Warshek or Uarsheikh) is a town in the southeastern Shabeellaha Dhexe region of Somalia. Located on the coast north of Mogadishu, it is an important religious center for the local Sufi Muslim community.
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In the late 19th century, Warsheikh was the stage of a power struggle between Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid of the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Sultan of Zanzibar. Sultan Kenadid had entered into a treaty with the Italians, making his realm an Italian protectorate. His rival and cousin Boqor Osman, who ruled the more northerly Majeerteen Sultanate, would sign a similar agreement vis-a-vis his own Sultanate the following year. Both rulers had signed the protectorate treaties to advance their own expansionist objectives, with Kenadid looking to use Italy's support in his dispute with the Sultan of Zanzibar over an area bordering Warsheikh, in addition to his ongoing power struggle over the Majeerteen Sultanate with Boqor Osman. Both Sultan Kenadid and Boqor Osman also hoped to exploit the conflicting interests among the European imperial powers that were then looking to control the Somali peninsula, so as to avoid direct occupation of their territories by force.[1]