Somali Democratic Redemption Front
The Somali Democratic Redemption Front ( German for Somali Salvation Democratic Front ; abbreviated SSDF ; Somali Jabhadda Diimuqraadiga Badbaadinta Soomaaliyeed ) is or was a political and military organization in Somalia . It was in opposition to the authoritarian government in 1981 Siad Barre founded and recruited primarily from the communities of Majerteen- Darod in Nordostsomalia ( Puntland ).
history
The debacle of the Ogaden War was followed in 1978 by an attempt by some officers , mainly Majerteen, to overthrow the Barre government, which failed. Most of the coup plotters were executed or imprisoned, and there was government reprisals against the Majerteen clan. Putschist Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed escaped to Ethiopia and founded the Somali Redemption Front (SSF).
The Somali Democratic Redemption Front was founded - initially under the name Democratic Front for the Redemption of Somalia DFSS - in 1981 in Aden , South Yemen . It emerged from the merger of the SSF with the Somali Labor Party and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Somalia . A central committee with eleven members was formed, in which the former SSF held seven seats. Some former members of the ruling Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party were also involved in running the new organization. With the support of Libya and Ethiopia, military structures were built.
In the summer of 1982, the SSDF took part in an Ethiopian military offensive against the Somali government. This offensive ended after the US began increasing military aid to Somalia. Nevertheless, some areas, including the district cities of Balumbale and Galdogob in Mudug , came under the control of Ethiopia and SSDF. Ethiopia then declared these areas its territory, which led to differences with the SSDF.
Within the SSDF, conflicts arose between members of the former SSF and the politically more left-wing groups. The SSF wanted to maintain the dominant position of the Majerteen and Darod in the organization and had left-wing members arrested by the Ethiopian government under Mengistu . Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was also arrested and the Ethiopian Musse Islam installed as chairman. From 1983 onwards, SSDF leaders allowed themselves to be corrupted by the Somali government and a number of SSDF fighters defected. The SSDF's military actions against Siad Barre continued until 1985.
In 1986 Hassan Ali Mireh was elected leader of the SSDF at a congress. He resigned in 1988, leaving a power vacuum in the organization.
In 1988, Ethiopia and Somalia agreed on a mutual rapprochement, whereupon Ethiopia stopped supporting the opponents Siad Barres, while Somalia for its part stopped supporting Somali separatists in Ogaden ( Western Somali Liberation Front ). SSDF camps in Ethiopia have been closed, leaders arrested and weapons confiscated. The Ethiopian government also shut down the SSDF radio station Radio Halgan , which had broadcast since 1981.
In the same year the SSDF began to take control of the western part of Mudug as well as the southern parts of Bari and Nugaal . It has remained the dominant power in northeast Somalia ever since.
After the fall of Siad Barres in 1991 and the beginning of the Somali civil war , the SSDF split into two factions, one led by Mohammed Abshir Musa and the other by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed . At a 1994 congress, a group of clan leaders offered former Prime Minister Abdirizak Haji Hussein the chairmanship of the SSDF, which the latter refused. Ahmed and Musa claimed the presidency.
In 1998 the SSDF under Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, together with the United Somali Party and the Somali National Democratic Union , declared the independence or autonomy of Northeast Somalia as Puntland .