Barre, Muhammad Siad

Barre, Muhammad Siad (1919-1995), Somalian chief executive (1969-1991). The son of a nomadic camel herder, Barre served with the Somali police (1941-1960), rising to the rank of chief inspector. With independence in 1960, he became a colonel and deputy commander of the army. He led the military coup of 1969 and served as president of the Supreme Revolutionary Council until 1976. At that time Somalia became a one-party state, with Barre as secretary-general of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist party and the country's president. A fervent nationalist, he fomented an unsuccessful uprising of ethnic Somalis in the Ogadēn region of Ethiopia (1977-1978). Hostilities with Ethiopia continued into the 1980s, and a rebellion was launched by Somalis against Barre's autocratic rule. He was forced to flee after the rebels captured Mogadishu in January 1991.