Luuq, Gedo. The organization would be consistently represented at all major national reconciliation and peace conferences over the 1990s. Although the SNF was primarily made up of members of the Marehan sub-clan of the Darod, it reportedly had significant support in the region, despite the presence of non-Darod and non-Somali minority groups in the Juba and Dawa river basins. Initially, the SNF had used Siad Barre's name to gain support, but found that this was generally counterproductive to their efforts among Somalis outside the Marehan clan. In 1991, a faction of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) broke away and merged with the SNF. Later, under General Omar Haji Masallah, the SNF achieved some of its major political goals by uniting the Marehan with other Darod clans led by General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan. Conflict with United Somali Congress, Somali Liberation Army and United Nations In March to April 1991, heavy fighting broke out between the United Somali Congress (USC) and SNF forces. The SNF lost control of Kismayo, one of Somalia's largest and most strategic cities, and was consequently forced to withdraw to the city of Bardera and parts of the Gedo region. However, in November 1991 to March 1992, the SNF advanced back into the territory it had lost months earlier, taking advantage of infighting among its opponents. This action prompted the creation of the opposing Somali Liberation Army (SLA), a military coalition composed of numerous rebel groups led by General Mohamed Farah Aidid. The SLA would later become the precursor to the Somali National Alliance (SNA), another significant faction in the Somali Civil War that the SNF would come into direct conflict with. In fall of 1992, following the recent formation of the SNA led by Aidid, his prime rival, Ali Mahdi Muhammad of the Somali Salvation Alliance (SSA) began supporting the SNF in an attempt to create his own pan-clan alliance. In early 1993, fighting broke out in the Galkayo region between the Aidid's SNA and the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) led by Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed. In response, SNF forces under the command of Morgan entered the Galguduud region to support the SSDF. At around the same time fighting broke out between Morgan's forces at the strategic port city of Kismayo and the American and Belgian UN forces deployed there. 1994 to 2001 Following a series of clashes with the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) in early