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Siad Barre
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Image:siadb.gif frame|right|Siad Barre
'''Mohamed Siad Barre''' (
Somali language Somali: '''Maxamed Siyaad Barre''') (
1919 or
1921?,
Ganane,
Italian Somaliland –
January 2,
1995,
Lagos,
Nigeria) was the
socialism socialist President of
Somalia from
1969 to
1991. Prior to his presidency he was army commander under the democratic government of Somalia which had been in place since independence in June 1960.
As a boy, Barre was an orphaned shepherd before joining the Italian colonial police force. He had no formal education, but studied hard and attended some military courses in Italy. He became the Vice Commander of Somalia's Army when the country gained independence from Italy in 1960. Barre became an advocate of
Soviet Union Soviet style
Marxist government after spending time with Soviet officers in joint training exercises in the early
1960s.
In
1969, during the power vacuum following the assassination of President
Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, the
military staged a
coup and took over. Barre was to rule for the next twenty-two years. He attempted to develop a
personality cult; large posters of him were common in the capital
Mogadishu during his reign, many of which can still be seen today.
During the
Cold War, control of Somalia was of great interest to the
Soviet Union and the
United States due to its strategic location at the entrance to the
Red Sea. Barre's government was initially supported by the
Soviet Union, but lost Soviet support in 1977 over Somali efforts to annex the
Ogaden region of
Ethiopia. He subsequently expelled all Soviet advisors, tore up his friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and switched his allegiance to the West. The United States stepped in, and until 1989 was a strong supporter of the Barre government, providing approximately
United States dollar US$100 million per year in economic and military aid.
Siad Barre played a big role in
17 October and
18 October,
1977 when
Red Army Faction group hijacked a
German Autumn Lufthansa flight 181 to
Mogadishu, Somalia. German Freeing all 86 hostages held by a Red Army Faction group in the hijacked plane in
Mogadishu,
Somalia.
West Germany West German Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt and Siad Barre negotiated about letting
GSG-9 anti-terrorist unit in
Mogadishu to free the hostages.
Barre's support was heavily based on ethnic and tribal affiliation. In the late 1980s, rival factional groups began to make substantial territorial gains, especially in the northern
Somaliland region. Barre launched an intense
counter-insurgency campaign. According to a 1990 report by Africa Watch, an affiliate of
Human Rights Watch, fifty to sixty thousand people were killed in the fighting in between 1988 and 1990. Barre was finally unseated on the evening of
26 January 1991. He was succeeded by
Ali Mahdi Muhammad until November 1991, but Ali Mahdi's government never managed to exert political or military control over most of the country.
After leaving Mogadishu in January 1991, Barre temporarily remained in the southwestern region of the country controlled by his son-in-law
Mohamed Said Hersi. He twice attempted to retake Mogadishu, but in May 1992, he was overwhelmed by General Aidid's army, and went into exile. He initially moved to
Nairobi,
Kenya, but opposition groups there protested his presence and support by the Kenyan government, so he moved to
Nigeria only two weeks later. He died on
2 January,
1995 in
Lagos, Nigeria, of a
heart attack, and his remains were buried in his hometown in Somalia.
As of 2006, Somalia has had no real national leader nor any effective national government since Siad Barre was deposed in
1991.
Category:1920s births Barre, Siad
Category:1995 deaths Barre, Siad
Category:Somali politicians Barre, Siad
Category:Leaders by coup Barre, Siad
de:Siad Barré
es:Mohamed Siad Barre
id:Siad Barre
ja:モ�メド・シアド・�ーレ
nl:Siad Barre
fi:Siad Barre
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