The Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) was a socialist political party and paramilitary group in Somalia that was active from 1978 to 2001. The organization (founded as the "Somali Salvation Front") was founded by Majerteen clan officials led by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, and it had the goal of overthrowing Siad Barre's dictatorial government. In October 1981, the Somali Salvation Front, Somali Workers' Party, and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Somalia united to form the SSDF, and it had an 11-member Central Committee, which included former Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party officials. Its military was supported by Ethiopia and Libya, and it fought against Barre in Ethiopia's 1982 border war with Somalia. The campaign was called off when the United States gave emergency military aid to Somalia.
Soon, a conflict developed between the SSF and the leftist parties within the SSDF, and the SSF made a deal with Mengistu Haile Mariam's government to purge the leftists, including Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. From 1983 to 1985, many SSDF fighters defected to Barre's regime, and the SSDF had ceased most of its military actions against Barre's region by 1985. In 1988, Somalia and Ethiopia agreed to cease hostilities, and the Ethiopian government closed SSDF camps, arrested its leaders, seized its weapons, and shut down its radio station.
In 1991, following the fall of the Barre regime, the SSDF vied for power during the Somali Civil War, and Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed returned to being the SSDF's leader. In 1998, the SSDF established the state of Puntland, and the party dissolved in 2001.
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