Siddiqis in the Horn of Africa Siddiqis in Eastern Ethiopia are usually called Qallu. While some of them still speak Arabic, most of them speak the regional Oromo, Harari or Somali languages, tongues which, like Arabic, also belong to the Afro-Asiatic language family. In Somalia, Siddiqis are commonly known as Sheekhaal or Aw-Qutub. Notable Siddiqi families in the Horn region include: 1. Kurtu family (in Harar, Deder and Djibouti) 2. Aw Barre family 3. Aw Ismael family 4. Qallu-Diinii family 5. Khabir Hassan family (in Gelemso) 6. Aw Samirren family 7. Aw Khalaf family 8. Aw Umar Ziad family 9. Abogne/Abun (the Khalaf and Kurtu families;
Languages of Africa expansion, in which Bantu-speaking peoples expanded over most of Sub-Equatorial Africa, displacing Khoi-San speaking peoples from much of Southeast Africa and Southern Africa and other peoples from Central Africa. Another example is the Arab expansion in the 7th century, which led to the extension of Arabic from its homeland in Asia, into much of North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Trade languages are another age-old phenomenon in the African linguistic landscape. Cultural and linguistic innovations spread along trade routes and languages of peoples dominant in trade developed into languages of wider communication (lingua franca). Of particular importance in this