SUMMARY
The Rer Ahmad subclan is part of the Hawiye clan family. The Hawiye is one of Somalia’s largest clan families representing an estimated 25% of the country’s total population. Members of the clan family mainly reside in central and southern parts of Somalia (Mudug and the Benadir regions), but large numbers can also be found in neighboring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia. The Hawiye played a major role in the ousting of former president Siad Barre, as the main rebel group that eventually succeeded in overthrowing him, USC (United Somali Congress), was primarily based among this clan. The Hawiye clan is relatively powerful in economic terms due to a large community in Mogadishu. The rural based Hawiye are commonly also involved in lucrative trade, but are also pastoralist. Many of the clans and sub-clans of the Hawiye clan family have remained influential in Somalia.
Rer Ahmad is the clan of Ali Dheere, a well-known politician in Somalia. Ali Dheere is considered to be an Islamic extremist, and was a co-founder of the ICU (Islamic Courts Union) in 1996. ICU ruled large parts of southern Somalia until 2006, when they were militarily defeated by TFG (Transitional Federal Government) and practically ceased to exist. Unlike many other ICU leaders, Ali Dheere stayed in Somalia, and was in 2009 appointed spokesperson of al-Shabaab, an off-shoot of the ICU, dedicated to overthrow the Somali government and to force AMISOM (African Union Mission to Somalia) to leave the country. Al-Shabaab is suspected to have ties to Al Quaida, and is listed as terrorist organisation by many western states such as the USA.
The complexity of the Somali clan system limits the amount of information available about the different subclans. Indeed, there are several perspectives on the lineage charts namely a northern, a central and a southern one. Furthermore the different subclans often disagree about their origins. Genealogy is often passed to the next generation orally and is not kept in any written form.
The Rer Ahmad subclan (Hawiye) has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
