ABAKHOONE MILITARY STRUCTURE

The young men who were at the age of joining the army were known as "abasoliri". The bravest and most fearsome among them were known as "abalulu" meaning the "fierce one". The most elite warriors were called "abaofu" meaning the blind ones. These ones were fearless warriors who had been tested by killing a hippopotamus single-handedly. Among the abaofu different houses were allocated different roles during the war:
House of Ndekwe also called House of Ng'ang'a formed the core leadership and provided some warriors too

House of Membwe were the producers of weapons and formed the bulk of the elite warriors. They used to have furnaces for smelting iron on top of Singwe Hill near the modern day Bukoma Beach
House of Khokosi also produced warriors but their main job was to mop up the battlefield to prevent any enemy who might might have faked death during the battle from escaping.
House Khulang'u mainly supplied the warriors with food and other logistics
There were two other sub-houses among abakhoone namely House of Sinani and House of Sukudi. Sinani and Sukudi were not among the original 15 houses of abakhoone, but the got an honour to be recognised as houses due to the bravery of their forefathers.

From my chats with Dr. Fred Hudson (our fellow omukhoone who resides in England) in October 2017, the house of Sinani, are part of the house of Membwe. Sinani was their matriarch. She a lady was from the clan of Abasitswoki who married into the house of Membwe. Therefore Abakhoone abasinani was  sub-house among abakhoone who used to identify themselves from their matriarch's name. Abakhoone abasukudi too are thought to have been a subhouse in the larger house of Membwe although it is not yet established from which clan Sukudi came from to get married in the House of Membwe.

During war, the houses of Sinani and Sukudi members formed the bulk of reconnaissance force. Whenever there was war, they were always the first in the battlefield to test the strength of the enemy, their weaponry and techniques before the Abasoliri moved in to stage the main battle. If the enemy was too strong, then the Abaofu were called upon to engage the enemy.
House of Holo too produced warriors, but their main task during the war was to secure the lake. They were original very talented at fabricating canoes. Therefore they formed a kind of Navy for abakhoone in case the king (Opetu) felt it necessary to stay way from his palace deep in the lake during war.

House of Diera too produced warriors, but their main task was the building of mufunjie (the rope bridge) to link Rugunga and Esamia locations as well as to link Rugunga and Erukala over Ndekwe during war time. It is through their skill with constructing reliable mufunjie that abakhoone warriors could move swiftly across the regions against enemies.

House of Miini produced good warriors such as the famous Ndubulire Ekwachi, but they performed mainly religious duties such as lacing the warriors with magical charms to prevent harm during the war besides leading religious festivals such the Sumba festival. Until today, the drums and and other festival paraphernalia for the Sumba oracles are under the custody of the Mwinda in Esiginga near Lunyofu.
(I will update further information on the role of the remaining houses during war.)

During war the elite warriors dressed in Ostrich feather dress and decorated their faces and bodies with red soul to look scary. They carried a shield made our of a buffalo hide, two spears, a sword and club with metal spikes. Abakhoone of the house of membwe specialised in the production of shields. The normal shield was made of buffalo hide. But during engagement with the potentially stronger enemies, the elite soldiers resorted to the Hippopotamus hide shield. This one was much smaller but impenetrable. There were also two types of shields. Whenever the warriors traveled a longer distance for battle,  they use a  smaller shield called "Ingabo". This could be made of buffallo hide or Hippopotamus hide. But when they defended their Bunambo Kingdon during invasion, elite warriors used a much larger type of shield called "ikhumba". This one was big enough to shield the whole body. Ikhumba was made of a combination of two types of hides. All around it, it was designed of buffalo hide. But the middle part that largely stopped enemy spears was reinforced with Hippopotamus hide which was more tougher for a spear to penetrate. Actually even the smaller shield, i.e., Ingabo of elite soldiers made out of buffalo hide was reinforced in the middle with hippopotamus skin.

Just like the use always deploy an aircraft carrier all over the world to signify their strength, the abakhoone always build a fortress known as Olukoba wherever they settled. This was mainly to keep their women, children and livestock safe during war because abakhoone warriors always fought from outside the fought and not from inside.

Life among abakhoone revolved around military preparedness. They wrestled as a sport. They competed in canoeing. They competed in shooting targets with spears. They tested bravery by crossing streams during the period when crocodiles were a menace. Generally, the greatest virtue among abakhoone was bravery. Fearlessness was honored. 

Prior to war, the warriors were assembled deep inside the papyrus swamps of Ndekwe estuary. There, the army commander gave instructions on strategy to key lieutenants. Prior to war a diviner from the House of Miini was invited to approve the intended strategy. He was to say whether the Gods approved of the intended strategy or not.

Most of the wars abakhoone fought was for land. In other cases neighbours simply attacked abakhoone out of jealous or hatred. Sometimes it was due vengeance for past wars they had lost against abakhoone. In some cases they went to war to avenge a murder of one of their own.