[4] Initially, the HBM-SSC's goal was to become a constituent state of the Federal Republic of Somalia with the support of the foreign diaspora.
The subsequent campaign to gain autonomy for the Dhulbahante clan was conducted by a newly created organization, the Khatumo State.
[5]: 80 The President of the HBM-SSC is the entrepreneur Suleiman Haglotosiye, and the vice president is Cali Xasan 'Saberi,' The goals of the HBM-SSC were to end the occupation of the SSC region by the Somaliland army, to gain international recognition for its activities, and to promote the interests of the local population.
[5]: 81 And the HBM-SSC also had a parliament, whose role was to approve the budget and review government activities, and which was empowered to dismiss the President.
[5]: 89 In June 2010, Somaliland's Minister of Foreign Affairs described HBM-SSC leader Suleiman Haglotosiye as a "terrorist" in an interview with the BBC, explaining that he was responsible for the violent actions of Buuhoodle and Widhwidh.
[14] In November 2010, a delegation including the President of the HBM-SSC and the Minister of Defense visited the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) in the Somalia capital Mogadishu and met with President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, among others.
[5]: 87 In November 2010, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo, who became the President of Somaliland, sent a 10-member delegation to Widhwidh, one of the strongholds of the HBM-SSC.
[5]: 90 However, Garaad Abshir Saalax later emigrated to Sweden and effectively reneged on the agreement with Somaliland because of his own people's support for Puntland.
[5]: 93 The Somaliland government sent troops and religious leaders between the two clans to settle the dispute and proposed arbitration based on Islamic law.
Still, the local Dhulbahante clan joined forces with the SSC militia to oppose them and clashed in Hagoogane on January 31.
The fighting displaced more than 3,000 residents of Hagoogane,[16] and on February 7, clashes in Kalshale killed dozens of people.
[5]: 95 When the Somaliland government ordered Habr Je'lo to destroy the water storage facilities that had been the source of the conflict and offered a new arbitration plan, but the local Dhulbahante clan rejected it as well, leading to continued conflict between Somaliland and the local Dhulbahante.
[5]: 96 In April 2011, a 15-year-old girl from the Las Anod neighborhood complained that she was questioned, shot (but not hit), and beaten by the Somaliland army.
[19] On June 26, 2011, Abdirisak Hassan Ismail signed a ceasefire agreement regarding the HBM-SSC representative in Widhwidh.
[20] A July 2011 United Nations Security Council report described the SSC militia as "can be characterized as an opportunistic and arguably mercenary militia force that has successfully appropriated legitimate local grievances and exploited radical diaspora sentiment for its own political and financial gain.
"[6] In September 2011, as the HBM-SSC had become a Farah Garad-dominated organization and was considered unable to achieve its original objectives, a delegation of Dhulbahante intellectuals toured the Dhulbahante-inhabited areas of Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn.
[5]: 99 In January 2012, a resolution was passed in Talah to create a separate organization called the Khatumo State.