Somali Rebellion

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The beginnings of civil war in Somalia can be traced to April 1978, when several army officers attempted a coup after the Ogaden War and then founded the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF). The SSDF and newly formed Somali National Movement (SNM) began mounting guerrilla operations into Somalia from bases in Ethiopia. Somali Civil War grew slowly, in a series of actions against President Siad Barre's government between 1978 and 1991, ultimately bringing down the Somali Democratic Republic. During the early 1980s the SSDF and SNM escalated their campaigns, at one point culminating in a joint Ethiopian/SSDF invasion in 1982 aimed at toppling Barre, which evolved into a protracted border conflict that severely weakened the SSDF. The SNM pressed on with hit-and-run assaults against government outposts across northwest Somalia, while Barre deployed army forces and allied clansmen to brutally suppress dissidents proliferating through the country. Other opposition groups sprang up: the United...

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