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Somalia INTERNAL SECURITY CONCERNS
Somalia has a long history of internal instability; in some
instances, clan feuds have lasted more than a century. Most of
this turmoil has been associated with disagreements and
factionalism between and among the major branches of the Somali
lineage system, which includes pastoral nomads such as the Dir,
Daarood, Isaaq, and Hawiye, and agriculturalists such as the
Digil and Rahanwayn
(see The Segmentary Social Order
, ch. 2). In
more recent times, these historical animosities have expressed
themselves through the emergence of clan-based dissident and
insurgent movements. Most of these groups grew to oppose Siad
Barre's regime because the president refused to make political
reforms, unleashed a reign of terror against the country's
citizenry, and concentrated power in the hands of his Mareehaan
subclan (the Mareehaan belonged to the Daarood clan). After Siad
Barre fled Mogadishu in January 1991, the Somali nation state
collapsed, largely along warring clan lines.
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