 Tradition and old records assert that southern Somalia , including the Mogadishu area , was inhabited very early by hunter @-@ gatherers of <unk> descent . Although most of these early inhabitants are believed to have been either overwhelmed , driven away or , in some cases , assimilated by later migrants to the area , physical traces of their occupation survive in certain ethnic minority groups inhabiting modern @-@ day <unk> and other parts of the south . The latter descendants include <unk> populations such as the <unk> , <unk> , the <unk> @-@ <unk> , and especially the <unk> @-@ <unk> . By the time of the arrival of peoples from the Cushitic <unk> ( <unk> and <unk> ) clan confederacy , who would go on to establish a local aristocracy , other Cushitic groups affiliated with the <unk> ( <unk> ) and <unk> ( Ma <unk> ) had already formed settlements of their own in the sub @-@ region . 
