Mohamed Siad Barre
1919 – 1995 Somali army general, president, dictator
The Somali dictator who switched Cold War patrons and left the state in collapse.
- Religion
- Sunni Muslim
- Affiliations
- Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party; shifted between Soviet and US patronage
Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in Somalia in a 1969 coup and ruled until 1991. He first aligned with the Soviet Union, then switched to the United States after the 1977-78 Ogaden War with Ethiopia. His repressive rule and clan-based violence ended in his overthrow, after which Somalia descended into prolonged civil war and state collapse.
In the timeline
- 1969 Siad Barre seizes power in a military coup mentioned