Somalia's clan dynamics

Somalia's clans have played an important role in the campaigns waged by jihadist groups operating in the country, from Al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya (AIAI) in the 1990s, through the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in the mid-2000s, to the Shabab in the present day.

Although the Shabab represents itself as having transcended traditional clan identities in favour of the primacy of Islam, in practice its campaign continues to be constrained by the realities of clan dynamics, which have both helped and hindered its progress.

Somalia has five major clan families: the Hawiye, which is concentrated in central and southern Somalia; the Darod, in the northeast, parts of central Somalia, and along the southern border with Kenya and Ethiopia; the Dir, residing in southern Shabeellaha Hoose and parts of the northwest; the Isaq, in the northwest; and the Rahanweyn, in the Bay and Bakool regions. Each clan is further divided into a number of sub-clans of varying degrees of importance.

Clan identities were suppressed during the rule of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre (1969-1991), but they came to the fore in the disorder that followed his overthrow, aided by the fact that much of the opposition to him came from clan-based groups such as the Hawiye-dominated United Somali Congress (USC).