Since the beginning of 1991, the United Somali Congress (USC, Hawiye) and Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM, Darod-Ogaden) have been engaged in intermittent armed conflicts in central and southern Somalia (BBC Summary 5 Aug. 1991; Ibid. 26 July 1991; Ibid. 17 July 1991; Xinhua 12 Apr. 1991; Le Monde 12 Feb. 1991; Indian Ocean Newsletter 9 Feb. 1991). According to a Western diplomat, there were "unconfirmed reports of summary executions of Darod (by Hawiye)" in April 1991 (Christian Science Monitor 5 Apr. 1991) (see also Response to Information Request SOM8422 - 19 April 1991). On 14 July 1991, General Muhammad Farah Aydid, the chairman of the USC, stated that the USC was ready to launch war against the remnants of the Barre regime (BBC Summary 17 July 1991). According to the IRBDC's cultural profile Somalia: Country Profile, Barre's patrilineal clan is the Marehan (a Darod subclan) and most of hisassociates were recruited among the Darods (IRBDC June 1991, 7).
The SNM (Issaq) have declared the independence of Somaliland (North) in late May 1991. So far, SNM has refused to take part in reconciliation conferences. Meanwhile, the Gadabursi and the Darod, who oppose independence, are allegedly relaunching the United Somali Party (USP), a group that acted as a anti-Issaq alliance with the Barre government in 1960 (Indian Ocean Newsletter 22 June 1991).
According to Somalia: Cultural Profile, published by the IRBDC in June 1991, "kinship ties are traced backwards through the individual's father, his father's father, the latter's father, and so on until the founding ancestor (Issaq, Darood, etc.) is reached" (IRBDC June 1991, 6). A prominent member of the Somali community in Toronto corroborated this information during a telephone interview with the IRBDC, and added that the clanic origins of the mother hardly ever count. Children's clanic origin is determined by their father's (prominent member of the Somali community 15 Aug. 1991). A Professor of History at Rutgers University, Newark, and an expert on Somalia, told the IRBDC in a telephone interview, that the mother's clan in Somalia might sometimes be a protection, but not often. For example, at the beginning of 1991, there were indiscriminate killings, by the Hawiye-dominated United Somali Congress (USC), of Darods, some of whom had Hawiye mothers (Samatar 15 Aug. 1991).
For further information, please refer to the attached documents.
Bibliography

Somalia: Cultural Profile, The Nomadic Clans of Somalia: History, Culture, Social Structure. IRBDC, June 1991.
Prominent member of the Somali community, Toronto. 15 August 1991. Telephone Interview.
Samatar, S. Said, Professor of History at Rutgers University, Newark, and an expert on Somalia. 16 August 1991. Telephone Interview.
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 5 August 1991. "Somalia USC Meeting Appoints Committee to Draw Up the USC's Constitution."
_____. 26 July 1991. "Somalia USC and SDM Report Fighting in Central and Southwest."
_____. 17 July 1991. "Somalia Southerners Demonstrate in Mogadishu Against SPM."
The Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 12 April 1991. "Fighting Between Rival Somali Warring Factions Continues."
Le Monde. 12 February 1991. Hélène Jean. "Des affrontements entre factions rebelles auraient fait plus de cent morts près de Mogadiscio."
The Indian Ocean Newsletter. 9 February 1991. "Somalia: National Conciliation Meeting Awaited."
_____. 22 June 1991. "Somalia: SNM Rejects Djibouti Conference."
The Christian Science Monitor. 5 April 1991. "Rebel Clashes Forestall Peace in Newly Liberated Somalia."
Attachments
Somalia: Cultural Profile, The Nomadic Clans of Somalia: History, Culture, Social Structure. IRBDC, June 1991.
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 5 August 1991. "Somalia USC Meeting Appoints Committee to Draw Up the USC's Constitution."
_____. 26 July 1991. "Somalia USC and SDM Report Fighting in Central and Southwest."
_____. 17 July 1991. "Somalia Southerners Demonstrate in Mogadishu Against SPM."
The Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 12 April 1991. "Fighting Between Rival Somali Warring Factions Continues."
Le Monde. 12 February 1991. Hélène Jean. "Des affrontements entre factions rebelles auraient fait plus de cent morts près de Mogadiscio."
The Indian Ocean Newsletter. 9 February 1991. "Somalia: National Conciliation Meeting Awaited."
_____. 22 June 1991. "Somalia: SNM Rejects Djibouti Conference."
The Christian Science Monitor. 5 April 1991. "Rebel Clashes Forestall Peace in Newly Liberated Somalia."