Afraad (The Fourth Brigade) (, ) was one of the major units of the

Western Somali Liberation Front The Western Somali Liberation Front (; abbreviated WSLF) was a Somali nationalist movement that waged an insurgency for the independence of the Somali-inhabited Ogaden from Ethiopia and its unification with Somalia. Originating from Somali ins ...

and was composed of officers originating from

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

. Afraad's initial objective was to liberate Somalis living in

Somali Region The Somali Region (, , ), also known as Soomaali Galbeed () and officially the Somali Regional State, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in eastern Ethiopia. It is the largest region of Ethiopia. The state borders the Ethiopian regions ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, but its focus later shifted due to increasing abuses against the north somali civilian population perpetrated by WSLF. Killing, looting and rape of civilians by WSLF was common from 1978 onwards. This abuse was due to the Somali state employing the Ogadeni subsection of WSLF as a subsidiary militia that would be used to maintain control over the northern regions of

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. Armed clashes between Afraad and the Ogaden forces of WSLF began shortly after 1979. A North Somali army officer arrested 14 leading WSLF fighters who have been harassing and abusing the local population at Gobyar. From February 1982, Isaaq army officers and fighters from the Fourth Brigade started moving into Ethiopia where they formed the nucleus of what would later become the

Somali National Movement The Somali National Movement (, ) was one of the first and most important Guerrilla warfare, organized guerilla groups and Mujahideen groups that opposed the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 1990s, as well as being the main anti-government f ...

References

Somali Civil War {{Somaliland-stub