Major,

You are on the mark. Somalia is one of the few (if not the only) country on the African continent that is ethnically one. The basis for peace or conflict in that setting is the clan or extended familial group, not the ethnic (Kurd versus Arab versus Turkomen) or religious (Shia versus Sunni versus Chaldean Christian) schisms of Iraq.

Somalia is the most ethnocentric country I ever visited, meaning the Somalis as a people are quite unified in their disdain for outsiders, regardless of origin. I tried to get that across to senior leaders in 1992 when we were gearing up for Restore Hope; I did not succeed.

Best
Tom