[3] Being a member of the Hawiye clan, a high ranking government official and an experienced soldier, Aidid was deemed a natural choice for helping lead the military campaign for the United Somali Congress against the regime, and he was soon persuaded to leave New Delhi and return to Somalia.

Although its members largely started off as associates of SODAF, SSDF and SNM, the USC in Rome had its own political program that offered a decentralised system to address the growing discontent with central rule after 10 years of rebel opposition.

[4] "The USC shall formulate national policies, strategy and plans of action to effectively establish and consolidate a Federal Central Government and a democratically elected parliament that truly represents all the Somali citizen.

This will help create a systematic decentralisation of governmental institutions and support local planning and decision-making, community initiative and participation which will eventually lead to the people self-reliance in all aspects of their political, social and economic lives"The USC military wing was formed in late 1989 in Mustahil, a native Hawiye area of Ethiopia, and led by General Mohamed Farrah Aidid until his demise in 1996.

[6] From base camps near the Somali-Ethiopian border, he began directing the final military offensive of the newly formed United Somali Congress to seize Mogadishu and topple the regime.

[6] By November 1990, the news of Gen. Aidid's USC forces overrunning President Siad Barres 21st army in the Mudug, Galgudud and Hiran regions convinced many that a war in Mogadishu was imminent, leading the civilian population of the city to begin rapidly arming itself.

Despite the victory however, the USC had failed to manage a political settlement with its rivals, the SNM, SPM and the SSDF, and also fragmented within its own leadership after Ali Mahdi Muhammad was declared interim President.

Eventually, both Hussein Aidid and Yalahow reconciled and joined the Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) in 2002, in opposition to the Transitional National Government (TNG).