These many diffuse currents of discontent assumed a more organised form through two main political movements based primarily on the clans in the central and northern (ex-British) regions of the Republic. Those mainly Mudugh-based Majerteyn clansmen associated with the unsuccessful attempted coup of 1978 had by late 1981 formed the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), a guerrilla organisation which transferred its operational head-quarters to Ethiopia in the following year and set up a powerful radio transmitter ('Radio Kulmis' – later called 'Radio Halgan').

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 598