[3] In the late 1980s, the Issa of Awdal region, led by Abdirahman Dualeh Ali,[4][5] a former SNM leader,[6] formed the United Somali Front (USF).

[11] In late March 1990 the Somali National Army (SNA) had retaken Zeila, Lughaya and Loyada in order to discourage the ambitious attempts of the USF to lay claim to the area.

[12] In January 1991, USF elements engaged in separate negotiations with the SNA in the north to retrieve their disarmed weapons to cross into Djibouti and prepare to return in combat formation in the event that the government's army in Somaliland completely collapses.

[4][3] The Issa component sought safety in Djibouti, while the former Siad Barre soldiers, who were primarily from the Majerteen and Ogaden clans of the Darod, were transported by sea to Bosaso, where they joined the newly resurgent Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).

[3] The USF would consequently continue to attempt to detach the Issa-populated area of Awdal (the Loyada-Garissa-Zeyla triangle) from the rest of Somaliland, being swiftly crushed by SNM forces each time,[16][1] including eight weeks of sporadic fighting in late 1995.