Somali clan system

Well, all of a sudden an overpowering need combined with a nagging feeling deep in my gut had me devouring countless articles, many of which I had little understanding of, trying to learn all about Somali history, its clan and political system and form of governance. The political system was entirely confusing, tricky to get around, hard to find unbiased information and generally a great bore; but I can assure u that learning the different clans, how they operate, and where they occupy in majority numbers can pretty much tell one whose running the show. I personally didn’t know what subclan I belonged to nor could I list the other clans correctly, I only knew the three major existing clans as of 3 years ago. These are a couple of clan oriented maps and graphs I looked over courtesy of Google; I have no idea how accurate they are but bear with me. I’ll be coming back to this particular topic many times throughout my phase I’m sure.

All I know at this point is that Hawiye, Darood, and Isaaq clans are the biggest in Somalia & consequently despise each other, each wanting a lion’s share of the seats and full control over the land & its people. This eventually led to the decade and so long civil war in which many people of various sub-clans were massacred, allegiances were formed, betrayals followed, and now the country is being divided up along clan lines; the Isaaq to the north, ironically called Somaliland state, hungering for world recognition, the Darood occupying self-appointed state Puntland of the northeast wanting all of Somalia’s divided regions to unite under one flag & leader, and the Hawiye controlling the regions of the south, particularly in and around the capital of Moqdishu/Xamar, and I’ve got no idea what their vision & plans are but one thing is that they’re not to happy with the President. The other smaller clans are dispersed around these places; and most have no voice in the major decionmakings. So the fights and power grabbing continue.