Somali National Front

After the fall of President Mohamed Siad Barre's government in 1991, the Marehan clan formed an armed group called the Somali National Front (SNF).

The SNF's power was further strengthened by the fact that many of its members were former national soldiers, giving them a strategic edge in terms of organization and military expertise over the other factions active in Somalia at that time.

This action prompted the creation of the opposing Somali Liberation Army (SLA), a military coalition composed of numerous rebel groups led by General Mohamed Farah Aidid.

Around the same period fighting broke out in the Galkayo region between the Aidid's SNA and the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) led by Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed.

[15] Following a series of clashes with the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) in early 1994, a conference was organized by communities in the Gedo and Bay regions.

[20] Although the SNF was primarily made up of members of the Marehan sub-clan of the Darod, it reportedly had significant support in the region, despite the presence of non-Darod and non-Somali minority groups in the Juba and Dawa river basins.

[17] Initially, the SNF had tried to use Siad Barre's name and legacy to rally for support, but found that this was generally counterproductive to their efforts among Somalis outside the Marehan clan.

[21] Like Aidids SNA and Ali Mahdi's SSA, the SNF also began opposing the rising strength of the Islamic courts appearing in southern Somalia.

[22][18] On 10 August 1996 heavy fighting erupted near Kenya's border city of Mandera during clashes between Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) and the SNF, backed by Ethiopian Air Force helicopter gunships.

While pursuing AIAI, SNF and Ethiopian forces had allegedly crossed the border and Mandera was inadvertently bombed three times during the battle resulting in the death of a Kenyan soldier.

[17][22] That same year, the SNF would entirely lose control of Gedo region when a military coalition united under the banner of the Allied Somali Force (later named the Jubba Valley Alliance) launched an offensive in the area.