Clan conflict between Majerteyn and Marehan escalated after the failed coup.

Evidence

Thus, while soldiers and civilians accused of complicity in the abortive April coup were being tried in Mogadishu in August 1978, there were widespread reports that the Majerteyn clan was holding hostages belonging to the Marehan clan of the President. The Head of State, whose most recent appointments and promotions suggested an increasingly defensive dependence on his own clansmen, was also said to be negotiating clandestinely with Majerteyn clan leaders in an effort to avert a situation which, some local Somali commentators claimed, threatened to lead to widespread tribal war. Perhaps this was an exaggerated view. Certainly, there was much more openly voiced criticism of Siyad’s government in Mogadishu in the summer of 1978 than there had been four years previously, before the 1975 drought and 1977 Ogaden War. This seemed less indicative of a deliberate relaxation of previous security measures, although there may have been an element of this, than of an increasing lack of firm central control. Talk of the need for a change of government was, if anything, more rather than less insistent following the unsuccessful Majerteyn attempt to overthrow the regime. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 587

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the collapse of Siyad’s scientific socialism and reversion to clan-based loyalties after defeat. — connects to: Half the Somali army officer corps belonged to the Marehan by 1987; National solidarity collapsed into exclusive Marehan reliance a decade on; Failed negotiations might have triggered internal war between insurgents and their leaders (+3 more)

Related

• National solidarity collapsed into exclusive Marehan reliance a decade on (similarity 0.90)
• Half the Somali army officer corps belonged to the Marehan by 1987 (similarity 0.88)
• By 1988 Siyad had abandoned the MOD coalition for his own Marehan clan (similarity 0.88)
• Defeat in the Ogaden triggered an attempted coup by Majerteyn clan soldiers. (similarity 0.86)
• The Ogaden defeat’s divisive forces corroded Somalia’s political stability (similarity 0.86)
• Siyad retreated into clan-based rule after the Ogaden defeat (similarity 0.86)
• Siyad’s clan consolidation shattered the old three-clan MOD alliance (similarity 0.85)
• Siyad’s weakened state created two rival governments and clan-based army dominance (similarity 0.84)
• The 1978 coup’s Majerteyn clansmen founded the SSDF in Ethiopia (similarity 0.82)
• Siyad’s political survival rested on manipulating clan segment representation (similarity 0.80)
• Post-Siyad Somalia reverted to Burton’s clan republics but with modern arms (similarity 0.80)
• Failed negotiations might have triggered internal war between insurgents and their leaders (similarity 0.80)
• Ogadenis and Mogadishu each tried to manipulate the other (similarity 0.78)
• Internal clan and ethnic divisions crippled the Western Somali struggle for the Ogaden. (similarity 0.78)
• Somalia’s overconfidence and tactical errors invited military disaster in the Ogaden. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Defeat in the Ogaden triggered an attempted coup by Majerteyn clan soldiers. #corroborates (0.85) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 586
• Siyad’s weakened state created two rival governments and clan-based army dominance #complicates (0.60)
• By 1988 Siyad had abandoned the MOD coalition for his own Marehan clan #corroborates (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 610