Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya

Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya
الاتحاد الإسلامي
FounderAli Warsame
LeadersAli Warsame (1983-1992)
Sheikh Abdullahi Bade
Abdulsalam Osman
Hassan Dahir Aweys
Hassan Turki
Dates of operation1983–1997
Merger of
  • Wahdat al-Shabaab (Union of Islamic Youth)
  • Jama'at al-Islamiya (Islamic Group)
Split to
HeadquartersLuuq
Active regionsGedo Region, Somalia and Somali Region, Ethiopia
Allies ONLF
Opponents USC
SSDF
SNF
UNOSOM II
United States
Ethiopia
Website
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Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI; Arabic: الاتحاد الإسلامي, lit.'The Islamic Union') was an Islamist politico-military group in Somalia. Formed in 1983 through a merger of smaller Islamist groups, the organization was the most powerful Islamic movement in the country during the late 80s and early 90s. It also had the most widespread clan following of all the Islamist factions across the nation and professed the aim of creating a Somali Islamic state.

In response to the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic during 1991, the organization militarized and became involved in several wars with foreign troops and clan based factions. It carried out insurgent attacks against United Nations Operation in Somalia II forces in Mogadishu and the Ethiopian army in the Ogaden during the early 1990s, while also fighting against the United Somali Congress and Somali Salvation Democratic Front. AIAI administered several major urban centers during the civil war including the ports of Merca and Bosaso and the inland city of Luuq.

After internal disputes over policy and several military defeats in the late 1990s, AIAI renounced the use of violence and effectively disintegrated in 1997 into other political entities.