By 1988 Siyad had abandoned the MOD coalition for his own Marehan clan

Evidence

At the close of the period we review here, the political situation had changed dramatically from that a decade earlier at the time of the Ogaden War. Then Somalia nationalism had been buoyant and confident, and General Siyad had been able to mobilise sentiments of national solidarity which, with the exception only of one northwestern clan (based in Jibuti), effectively embraced all the nation’s major clans. In such an expansive context the President’s MOD power base represented a security net. Now, ten years later, with the collapse of national solidarity and an unparalleled growth of inter-clan strife, the MOD framework had been abandoned as General Siyad fell back defensively on the support of the most loyal segments of his own Marehan clan. At the same time, of course, with the ample means at his disposal Siyad continued to exploit other clan connexions and antagonisms. He thus distributed money as well as arms to mobilise ‘friendly’ groups. But since the configuration of inter-clan alliances kept changing, this dangerous policy led to a general proliferation of small arms which readily found their way into the hands of the President’s adversaries. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 610

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Somali literacy and the Ogaden war fused into a national obsession displacing Siyad’s cult; Siyad retreated into clan-based rule after the Ogaden defeat; Half the Somali army officer corps belonged to the Marehan by 1987 (+7 more)

Related

• Siyad retreated into clan-based rule after the Ogaden defeat (similarity 0.93)
• National solidarity collapsed into exclusive Marehan reliance a decade on (similarity 0.92)
• Siyad’s clan consolidation shattered the old three-clan MOD alliance (similarity 0.91)
• Half the Somali army officer corps belonged to the Marehan by 1987 (similarity 0.91)
• Clan conflict between Majerteyn and Marehan escalated after the failed coup. (similarity 0.88)
• Siyad’s arms-distribution policies caused the unprecedented clan cleansing (similarity 0.87)
• Post-Siyad Somalia reverted to Burton’s clan republics but with modern arms (similarity 0.87)
• Siyad’s weakened state created two rival governments and clan-based army dominance (similarity 0.86)
• Siyad’s political survival rested on manipulating clan segment representation (similarity 0.85)
• Siyad fled Mogadishu in January 1991, and clan divisions became Somalia’s only security structure (similarity 0.84)
• The Ogaden defeat’s divisive forces corroded Somalia’s political stability (similarity 0.84)
• Siyad’s survivalist rule reinforced clan segmentation to Ethiopia’s advantage (similarity 0.83)
• Internal clan and ethnic divisions crippled the Western Somali struggle for the Ogaden. (similarity 0.82)
• Post-1991 Somalia reverted to precolonial clan republic practices like the abban (similarity 0.82)
• Siyad’s survivalism reinforced Somali segmentary politics to Ethiopia’s advantage (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Siyad’s weakened state created two rival governments and clan-based army dominance #complicates (0.60)
• Siyad’s arms-distribution policies caused the unprecedented clan cleansing #corroborates (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 615