(Mohammed) Siad Barr - Early life, Head of state, Death

Somali soldier and president (1969–91). Educated at a military academy in Italy, he served as a police officer in the British and Italian trust administrations (1941–50). He joined the Somali army as a colonel in 1960, and became president after a military coup. Towards the end of his rule, the country broke up into warring factions, and he was deposed, leaving behind civil war, famine, and an international crisis in which many aid agencies, the UN, and the USA became involved.

Siad Barre

4th President of Somalia
In office October 21, 1969 – January 26, 1991
Vice President(s)	none
Preceded by	Abdirashid Ali Shermarke
Succeeded by	Ali Mahdi Muhammad
Born	1919 Shilabo, Ethiopia
Died	January 2, 1995 Lagos, Nigeria
Political party	Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
Spouse	Mama Khadiija
Religion	Islam

Mohamed Siad Barre (Somali: Maxamed Siyaad Barre) (1919 – January 2, 1995) was the Head of State of Somalia from 1969 to 1991.

Early life

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Barre was born in the Marehan clan near Shilabo, Ethiopia, although he later claimed to have been born in Garbahaarreey in order to qualify for the Italian colonial police force. Barre became an advocate of Soviet style Marxist government after spending time with Soviet officers in joint training exercises in the early 1960s.

Head of state

In 1969, during the power vacuum following the assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, the military staged a coup on October 21, 1969 (the day after Shermarke's funeral), and took over. Siad Barre also championed the concept of a greater Somalia which aimed to unite Djibouti, the Ogaden (region of Ethiopia) and the Somali region of Kenya under a so called greater Somalia. 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. The United States stepped in, and until 1989 was a strong supporter of the Barre government, providing approximately US$100 million per year in economic and military aid. Siad Barre played an important role in 17 October and 18 October 1977 when a Red Army Faction group hijacked Lufthansa flight 181 to Mogadishu. West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Siad Barre negotiated about letting a GSG-9 anti-terrorist unit into Mogadishu to free the hostages.

Death

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. As of 2006, Somalia has had no real national leader nor any effective national government since Siad Barre was deposed.