Clan cleansing in Somalia: the ruinous legacy of 1991

In 1991, certain political and military leaders in Somalia, wishing to gain exclusive control over the state, mobilized their followers to use terror - wounding, raping, and killing - to expel a vast number of Somalis from the capital city of Mogadishu and south-central and southern Somalia.

Although this episode of organized communal violence is common knowledge among Somalis, its real nature has not been publicly acknowledged - until now.