Consequently, far from throwing up a leader to lead the friend-lies against the Dervishes, the clans now launched into a frenzied pursuit of old scores and feuds, and the interior of the country lapsed into a state of unparalleled confusion and chaos. Soon indeed the situation was so desperate that a large proportion of the population was reduced to a state bordering on starvation, and food was so scarce that people had to eat rats and other unclean animals. The coastal Administration, deprived of effective military resources and greatly reduced in prestige, was totally incapable of restoring order: and the Dervishes were again on the move, and receiving a great access of new adherents, in circumstances which were peculiarly favourable to them. The new policy clearly was a complete failure.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 228