SUMMARY

The Suleiman (sometimes Seleeban or Salaaeban) sub-clan of the Habar Gidir clan is a third tier of the Hawiye clan of Somalia. 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.

The Hawiye clan is divided into several sub-clans, such as the powerful Habar Gidir (sometimes Habar Gedir). The Habar Gidir clan is subsequently divided into even smaller sub-clans, such as the Suleiman. This sub-clan, like many others in Somalia, has constructed its own militia and engaged in non-state conflicts with rivalling non-state actors in the chaotic environment that followed on Siad Barre’s fall from power in 1991. The prevailing context of political rivalries in Somalia is mainly based on identification along clan lines.

The Suleiman sub-clan is most prominent in terms of demographics in the Galgaduud and Mudug regions of central Somalia, where they make up approximately 40% of the population. Like other sub-clans of the Hawiye they are also numerous in the capital of Mogadishu. Together with the Sa’ad sub-clan the Suleiman sub-clan was the dominant part of the powerful Habar Gidir clan through most of the 1990s and 2000s.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s there was a growing number of regional administrations created in Somalia, many of them with clan links. One such administration has been linked to the Suleiman subclan, namely the Ximan & Xeeb administration. The administration lies in the southeastern parts of Mudug and the eastern parts of Galguduud in central Somalia.

The Suleiman subclan of Habar Gidir clan (Hawiye) has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.