Somalia has been without a recognised central
government since the collapse of Mohamed Siad
Barre's regime in January 1991.
Recent
attempts to establish a new authority, based
in the capital Mogadishu, have had mixed results.
And much power still lies with armed factions
and warlords who are notorious for switching
allegiance.
Click on the links below to find out more about
the country's main powerbrokers, as profiled
by BBC World Affairs correspondent Peter Biles.
The Transitional National Government - TNG
The TNG emerged out of a peace conference of
Somali clan leaders in Djibouti in 2000.
It
is led by President Abdulkassim Salad Hassan
and Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah.
However,
few warlords have recognised the government.
The
president controls little territory
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An
idea on widening the TNG to include opposition
warlords in a national unity cabinet received
little backing in December 2001.
The TNG controls only parts of the Somali capital,
Mogadishu, and pockets elsewhere in Somalia.
The
Somalia peace process is a result of the involvement
of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
- IGAD - which is made up of Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan and Somalia.
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The
Somali Reconstruction and Restoration Council
- SRR
The main challenge to the TNG comes from the
SRRC - a loose coalition of opposition warlords
from southern Somalia, many of whom have backing
from Ethiopia.
The
coalition began fracturing when some of its
members signed the peace pact on a national
unity government in Nakuru, Kenya.
The
SRRC has its headquarters in the town of Baidoa.
Its
leaders say the transitional government is not
representative of Somali society and has little
control over the country.
They
have called on the international community to
intervene in Somalia and set up a transitional
government just as they have done in Afghanistan.
SRRC
leaders say they can no longer rely only on
neighbouring countries in the region - which
are "fighting each other" - to help bring an
end to over a decade of factional fighting.
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Hussein
Mohammed Aidee
Based in Mogadishu, Hussein Aideed leads the
United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance
(USC/SNA).
General
Aideed controls parts of Mogadishu
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He
is a former US marine and son of the late General
Mohamed Farah Aideed - the warlord who helped
to remove President Siad Barre from power, and
then fought US forces in Mogadishu in 1993.
His son - Hussein Aideed - arrived in Somalia
with the Americans but then left the US military
and became a local militia leader.
He
now controls southern areas of Mogadishu.
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Muse
Sudi Yalahow
Muse Sudi is also based in Mogadishu, but enjoys
support from Ethiopia.
He
leads the United Somali Congress/Somali Salvation
Alliance (USC/SSA).
He
was once a close ally of Ali Mahdi Mohammed,
Somalia's interim president after Siad Barre's
overthrow.
His forces were involved in fighting in south
Mogadishu in December 2001.
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Mohammed
Said Hirsi Morgan
General Morgan is based in Kismayu.
General
Morgan: The butcher of Hargeisa
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He is allied to the southern-based Somali Patriotic
Movement (SPM).
A
former army commander and son-in-law of Siad
Barre, he became known as the "Butcher of Hargeisa"
in the late 1980s when he conducted military
operations against Somali National Movement
(SNM) rebels in northern Somalia.
Morgan
is also supported by Ethiopia.
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Hassan
Mohamed Nur Shatigudud
A professional soldier based in Baidoa, he is
Commander of the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA)
and controls the regions of Bay and Baykol.
General
Shatigudud wants foreign intervention
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One a supporter of the TNG, Shatigudud became
a strong opponent of the interim administration
in October 2001.
His
move caused a split in the RRA.
Along with Hussein Aideed and Aden Abdullahi
Nur Gabyow, he has called for international
military intervention to stop what he describes
as "extremist groups" from going underground
in Somalia.
He
also has Ethiopian backing.
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Aden Abdullahi Nur Gabyow
General
Gabyow controls southern areas
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A defence minister in the Siad Barre era, Gabyow
now leads the southern-based Somali Patriotic
Movement (SPM).
Hussein
Aideed, Shatigudud and General Gabyow say they
can no longer rely only on neighbouring countries
in the region to help bring an end to over a
decade of factional fighting.
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Omar Haji Mohammed Masaleh
Leads the Somali National Front (SNF) - now
split into pro- and anti- Ethiopian factions.
His power-base lies in the southern Gedo region.
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Osman
Hassan Ali Atto
Ali
Atto has signed national unity government
deal
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Ali Atto did sign the Nakuru peace deal on a national
unity government in December 2001.
He
is also based in southern Mogadishu.
He
was once the late General Aidieed's financial
backer, but they later split and fought.
He
is now leader of a dissident faction of the
USC/SNA.
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Jama Ali Jama
He is the new leader of Puntland - the autonomous
state in north-eastern Somalia, which was established
in 1998.
The
administration in Puntland does not recognise
the transitional government in Mogadishu.
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Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
Jama Ali Jama recently deposed the President
of Puntland Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
Since
then, a new threat of conflict has developed
between the supporters of the two rivals.
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Foreign
player: Ethiopia
Ethiopia and Somalia have often had a troubled
relationship.
The
two countries went to war in the Ogaden in the
late 1970s, when Somalia tried to capture territory
to which it believed it had an historical claim.
Ethiopia
only succeeded in pushing back the Somali army
when Soviet and Cuban forces came to the aid
of Addis Ababa.
President
Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991
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It now suits Ethiopia to have a chaotic and fragmented
country without a proper national government on
its south-eastern border.
The
population of the Ogaden - Ethiopia's "Zone
Five" - consists largely of ethnic Somalis and
the region is a source of opposition to the
Ethiopian Government.
Ethiopia
is worried about the possible spread of Islamic
fundamentalism in the Horn of Africa.
In
recent years, Addis Ababa has intervened quietly
in Somalia's internal affairs to keep Somalia
weak and divided.
There
is general agreement that this Ethiopian influence
has increased over the past year or so, with
activity around Baidoa in the south and in Puntland
in the north-east.
In
January 2002, the TNG said Ethiopia had sent
troops across the border into Somalia to train
militia groups opposed to it.
Somalia's transitional government also said
that 70 Ethiopian officers had been despatched
to Puntland in support of the ousted leader,
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
Ethiopia
denies these claims.
The
overall situation is further complicated by
the fact that the United States acknowledges
that some of its military intelligence comes
from Ethiopia.
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Al Itihaad al Islamiya
Meaning Islamic Union, the fundamentalist group
was founded in the late 1980s and is based in
the southern Gedo region.
There
have been unconfirmed reports of al Itihaad
activity in Puntland.
It
is rumoured to be linked to al-Qaeda, the terror
network believed to be behind the September
2001 attacks on the United States. The US has
since listed it as a terrorist organisation.
Despite
the allegations of al-Qaeda links, some observers
say al Itihaad has been a spent force since
1996 and has not been active for some years.
The
general feeling now is that al Itihaad's influence
is vastly overblown.
However,
there are suggestions that individual Somalis
or even groups of Somalis may have, or have
had links with the al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin
Laden.
There
are reports that such people could be hiding
in camps in Ras Kamboni near the Kenyan border
and at El-Wak, near Somalia's border with Kenya
and Ethiopia.
In
the past, Ethiopia has blamed al Itihaad for
bomb attacks in Addis Ababa and elsewhere, apparently
carried out in support of Ethiopian opposition
groups.
This
has led to low-profile Ethiopian military incursions
into Somalia in recent years.
The US believes that al Itihaad also had links
with al Barakaat - the main remittance bank
and telecommunications system in Somalia.
Al
Barakaat's assets have been frozen by the US
following allegations of money-laundering on
behalf of al Qaeda.
Al
Barakaat strongly denies these allegations,
and the United Nations Humanitarian Co-ordinator
for Somalia, Randolph Kent, says there is little
evidence to link al Barakaat with al-Qaeda.
The
warlords have a strong self-interest in fuelling
stories of possible links between Somalia's
transitional government and al Itihaad.
By
spreading rumours of an al Qaeda presence, Somali
politicians are hoping to harm their opponents.
It
is clear that the factions are using the general
anti-terrorist rhetoric to demonise each other.
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