They moved rapidly to a commercial section of central Hargeysa populated largely by the Habar Awal clan, where they opened fire indiscriminately. Government troops engaged the technicals and two days of heavy fighting ensued. Calm has since returned to the city, though sporadic shooting and skirmishes are reported. With the exception of certain Iidagale families forced to decamp from their settlement at Hargeysa aiport, Garxajis and other Isaaq mixed freely and without trepidation in the days leading up to the conflict. The kind of strain that typifies inter-clan relations in the face of imminent hostilities was not in evidence in the days leading up to the clashes, and does therefore not suffice to explain the present situtation.
Recent developments suggest an alternative probable cause for the violence.
Strident opposition to the Egal administration has for some time been concentrated among a group of Garxajis political and business leaders, somewhat removed from the more subtle dissatisfaction permeating the Garxajis clan. The tactics of this opposition clique failed, until very recently, to attract the sympathy of their clansmen among the Iidagale and Habar Yonis clans, mainly because their platform ran contrary to mainstream sentiments among the Isaaq in general. The resort to force, when Egal s term of office is less than six month s from expiring, is simply the most extreme devlopment of an opposition trend, but it may yet serve to provoke a general schism within Somaliland in general, and among the Isaaq in particular. The recent fighting has already dramatically radicalized clan attitudes throughout Somaliland, sharply lowering the threshhold for violence. Without rapid and effective negotiation, the vendetta could easily escalate to the point of civil war.