The Somalian Civil War

According to Wais Kassim H. Dahir, as a newly emerging and soon to be the world's youngest independent state Somaliland has a lot to experience in the years ahead. Given its location in one the world's scariest continents, and more particulary in east Africa where for the last few decades the people of this region severely endured intra state conflicts, civil wars, and years under the dominion of brutal dictators. Needless to say that those were mainly the underlying motives that led to the breakway of the Somaliland from the former Somalia.

As stated in The Somliland Times: Issue 45, published on November 30, 2002, Political-economic conflict and power struggles affected Somalia since the late 1970's. This caused the country to submerge into a civil war. Consequently it also led to the overthrow of Major General Muhammad Siad Barre, disintegrated the central authority and caused the state of Somalia to cease as a political national unit.

Wais Kassim H. Dahir also stated that the Somalia Civil War is also a identity related conflict. This is because of the clan diversity among the Somali people, where every clan is struggling to get control of the state and dominate the other contesting clans.

The Somali conflict also includes a series of interventions, namely, colonial jobs and the cold war's geopolitical impact. Each of these played a major role in adding fuel to the fires of the ongoing conflict. Even now in the present each of the phases have left a damaging legacy that still feeds the conflict in Somalia. ~The Somaliland Times: Issue 45 November 30, 2002

Sides Taken In the Somali Civil War
The Sides taken in the Somalian Civil war are difficult to define because the sides have changed and have had many alterations throughout the war. The most dominant factions in the war are now the Al Shaabab and the Hizbul Islam, both of whom are Islamic insurgent groups. The smaller factions of soldiers are rarely mentioned because it is common for them to join with either the Al Shaabab or the Hizbul Islams. The smaller factions are usually made up of Islam extremists.
Resently there have been other groups of people joining in the war. Pirates are the largest new addition to soldiers in the Somali Civil War. The New York Times article, 'In Somali Civil War, Both Sides Embrace Pirates,' written by Jeffrey Gettleman and published on September 1, 2010 states that "For years, Somalia's heavily armed pirate gangs seemed content to rob and hijack on the high seas and not get sucked into the messy civil war on land. Now, that may be changing, and the pirates are taking sides-both sides." The pirates who are joining the war choose sides based primarily on who can pay them the most.
One of the most shocking groups of people to resently join in the fighting is children. Children as young as nine years old are fighting in the Somali Civil war. Children are given weapons and are expected to kill and act in the same manner as the hardened soldiers do.