[1] To secure his hold on the emirate of Harar, his father had married Abdullahi to the daughter of Ahmad III ibn Abu Bakr, his predecessor.

[5] He was given "a few hundred soldiers trained by one of the British officers, 300 to 400 rifles, some cannon, and munitions, a force hardly sufficient to garrison Harar and Jaldessa, let alone police the trade routes and ensure the security of the state.

At the same time he sought an alliance with the Issa Somalis, who controlled the trade route to Zeila, and fought against their traditional enemies the Oromos whom he stigmatized as infidels.

At the same time he issued a decree against drunkenness, which the Egyptians had on the whole regarded with a tolerant eye, and proclaimed his subjects' freedom to engage in the slave trade which had been officially prohibited by Egypt.

His situation had deteriorated by July 1885, according to historian Harold Marcus, with a population that had grown "uncontrollable, European traders [who] became virtual prisoners in their homes and shops, and the adjacent Oromos [who] raided the town.

"Had he allowed the enemy to attack the walled city, where his few Krupp cannon might have been effective, the Shewans might have suffered a defeat with serious political consequences," Marcus notes.