SUMMARY
The Ayr, also spelled Eyr, Cayr or Ceyr, is a subclan of the Habar-Gidir, one of the clans 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.
The Ayr clan is often considered to be the most powerful clan of central and southern Somalia. Commercially, the clan controls the most populated and productive areas of the country, a territory expanding from Mogadishu to the southern city of Kismayo following the coastal line. The Ayr clan has also been in control of much of the business community located in the capital. Militarily, the clan militia is heavily armed and extensively trained.
The clan has also been highly active within the political sector of Somalia. The president of the TNG (Transitional National Government), Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, was a member of the Ayr clan. TNG was an attempt to form a unity government in Somalia, which had lacked a functioning government for several years, which governed the country for a four-year period in the early 2000s. Furthermore, the ARS/UIC (Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia/Union of Islamic Courts), an Islamic militia that was in control of southern Somalia during a brief period of time in 2006, was under the leadership of several members of the Ayr clan, not the least Hasan Dahir Awey (who has also been the leader of AIAI (Al-Itihad al-Islami) and Hizbul Islam. Yusuf Mohammed Siad, a former leading figure with the ARS/UIC and for some time the Minister of Defense in the TFG (Transitional Federal Government), a UN sanctioned attempt to form a unity government of Somalia, was born into the Ayr clan. Finally, the defense minister, in office up until 2010, of the current recognized government of Somalia was also Ayr.
The prominence of the Ayr clan has led to close relations with the United States. In 2006, clan elders met with the U.S. ambassador in Kenya and signed an agreement to support the Unites States in its struggle against al-Qaida. The support concerned military means; known al-Qaida members would be hunted down and turned over to the authorities by the clan militia.
The complexity of the Somali clan system limits the amount of information available on the different sub-clans. Indeed, there are several perspectives on the lineage charts namely a northern, a central and a southern one. Furthermore the different sub-clans often disagree about their origins. Genealogy is often passed to the next generation orally and is not kept in any written form.
The Ayr subclan of Habar Gidir clan (Hawiye) has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence
