Al-Shabaab is a radical Islamist militant movement in Somalia that emerged following the United States supported Ethiopian conflict that brought down the Islamic Courts Union in 2006. Al-Shabaab has affiliated itself with, and receives support from, the transnational radical Islamist organization al-Qaeda. It is not a defined or clearly-organized movement, but rather al-Shabaab represents a network of clan-militias, foreign fighters attracted to the “Somali jihad,” and business interests....

The Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa (“People of the Sunna and Community,” ASWJ) is a militia that represents Somali Sufi orders in opposition to Islamist groups such as Hizb ul-Islam and al-Shabaab. In 2010, the ASWJ joined forces with the Transitional Federal Government (TSG) with the expectation that they would be granted positions cabinet positions, though not all members supported the move and some have complained that the TSG reneged...

Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) is an Islamist militant organization that was founded in opposition to the Siad Barre regime, formed from an assortment of various Wahhabi groups. It took a strong political and military stance against Ethiopia and sought to regain the Ogaden region for Somalia. Some members of the AIAI leadership emerged as prominent leaders in the Islamic Courts Union, including Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys...

The concept of a Failed State denotes a nation lacking effective government and legal structures. The term was first used in the early 1990s post-Cold War context as western developed nations—especially the United States—sought to empower themselves and the United Nations to intervene in underdeveloped nations guided by principles of democracy, global security, and a human rights agenda. The term lacks a clear definition and has been criticized by some as representing power relations associated with neocolonialism, which ultimately stigmatizes those states to which the term is applied....

There is a small Christian minority in Somalia of unknown size, which face persecution on the part of militant Islamist organizations such as al-Shabaab. Its members include Bantu as well as ethnic Somalis who have converted from Islam. Christians are not represented by the government and have no say in Somali politics.

Sources:

Martin Hill,...

Sayyid Muhammad 'Abdille Hassan (1856-1920) was militant leader, a Sufi sheikh, and a renowned poet who led the most significant anti-colonial campaign against the colonial British. He is remembered as a nationalist hero by contemporary Somalis, many of whom can recite his poetry by heart. He was a member of two powerful pastoral warrior Darod subclans.

In 1895 he embarked on the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) and while there, studied with Sheikh Muhammad Salih and joined the Salihiyyah Sufi...

Islam is the dominant religion of Somalia, practiced by over 99% of the population. The vast majority of Somalis are Sunni and of the Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys (b. 1935) is a former army colonel and current Somali religious leader affiliated with militant Islamist groups such as al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, and Hizb al-Islam, which merged with al-Shabaab in 2010, and formerly a leading and more radical figure within the Islamic Courts Union. Wanted by the...

Al-Islaah is a moderate Islamist movement that formed in the 1970s and is affiliated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. It evolved from a postwar social service network, recognized for the quality of its hospitals and schools (including the University of Mogadishu), to a political movement with broad support from students, professionals, and business people. It has rejected violence. Damul Jadiid (DJ)—"New Blood"—is a faction within al-Islaah that broke with the organizational rejection of violence and joined the Islamic Courts Union in 2006. Current president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud...

The Benadiri are a southern coastal ethnic minority descended from ethnic Somalis as well as Arabs, Persians, Indians, and coastal Bantu peoples. Historically, they formed a successful nonpastoral mercantilist class and were instrumental in the spread of Islam in Somalia. Benadiri participated in nationalist politics at independence, forming their own political parties. Despite these auspicious roots, the Benadiri were severely disadvantaged during the civil war, in part because they did not form a...

General Mohamed Farah Aideed (d. 1996) was an Italian-trained military leader, often described as a warlord, who played a leading role in the coup against President Siad Barre in 1990. He was a member of the Habr Gidr subclan of the Hawiye, and leader of the United Somali Congress and later Somali National Alliance. Aideed’s clan-based militias comprised one of the major forces in control of parts of Mogadishu and southern Somalia during the civil war, fighting against U.N. and American...

The Ogaden is a pastoral region within southeastern Ethiopia named for the Ogadeeni, a prominent Somali clan. Though claimed by Somalis, the region was granted to Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II in 1897 by the British after he had taken it in military conquest in 1887. The region was later annexed to Italian Somaliland in 1936, then returned to Ethiopia by the British in 1948 over the protest of some of its inhabitants, which was deeply upsetting to Somali nationalists.

The Ogaden is the site of ongoing conflict between the Ethiopian military and Ogadeeni separatist movements,...

Maj. Gen. Siad Barre (1910-1995) was a military leader and the president of Somalia who led a coup following the assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He is remembered as a brutal dictator whose regime fostered conditions leading to the 1991 civil war. A member of the Marehan Darod subclan, he was raised an orphan in Italian Somaliland, working in the police force and later becoming chief inspector under the British. At the time of independence, Barre was a colonel in the Somali National Army, and within the decade was made commandant of the army.

Following the...

Somalis form the largest ethnic group in Somalia and constitute large minorities in neighboring countries. The Somali language was made the official state language upon independence in 1960. Somalis are predominantly pastoral nomads who organize themselves into lineage-based clan and subclan groups; the largest include the nomadic Darod, Isaq, Hawiye, and Dir, and the agriculturalist Rahanwayn and Digil.

In Somalia, poetry is more than just an art form; it’s a medium of communication, news-sharing, and persuasion, drawing on history, culture and politics. Poetry is also used in inter-clan disputes, where a poet composes a poem insulting another tribe. The highly respected Somali poet is tasked with composing verses to commemorate every significant event in his clan, thereby recording his people’s history and preserving the feelings around those events. The poems are then memorized by others and passed down through the generations.

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