It was early 1905, thousands of well armed Melenik forces marched all the to Balcad, one hour way from Xamar. Sheikh Hassan Barsane was fighting Melenik and Italians simultaneously. The Biyamal were in fierce war with the Italians. Melenik also tried to invade Somali territory from Gedo. They reached Luuq in 1896. The Geledi [Raxanweyn] Sultanate along with other Somali pushed them back. When people say, Ethiopians have literally been trying to reach the Somali coast through any means for centuries. It is not an exaggeration. If it was not the many Somali souls lost in the defense of Somali territories, we would be speaking Amharic now,