26/01/1991: The day Maxamed Siyaad Barre vacated Muqdisho

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

It is 30 years to the day the day madaxweynihii Siyaad Barre left Muqdisho for good. What did change in these three decades? For good or bad.

SOMALI REBEL FORCES CLAIM VICTORY

NAIROBI, KENYA, JAN. 27 -- Rebels fighting to overthrow the authoritarian 21-year rule of Somali leader Mohamed Siad Barre announced an offensive breakthrough in the bloody month-old conflict today, saying they had captured the state radio station and presidential palace in Mogadishu, capital of the East African country.

As Siad Barre's dwindling forces were reportedly driven from the city by a fierce rebel assault, the insurgent Somali National Congress jubilantly claimed that the government had been overthrown. A congress spokesman said on Radio Mogadishu: "Last night . . . the government and responsibility of the Somali people were taken over by the {rebel} movement. We are addressing you from Radio Mogadishu, the voice of the Somali people."

Siad Barre's troops, meantime, were said to be still in tenuous control of the international airport and its immediate vicinity. It was not clear whether the octogenarian Somali leader also had retreated to the airport, but the Associated Press quoted rebel leaders in London as saying that he was surrounded with his forces there and that "we believe he may have been captured."

Over the past 10 days, as the conflict slackened to an apparent stalemate in the capital, Siad Barre offered numerous times to step down and leave the country if the rebels would agree to a cease-fire. The rebels declined and continued to press for an advantage.

In London, rebel spokesmen said that within 48 hours they would announce an interim government to administer the country until the main rebel groups could meet to form a democratic government representing the various clans and regions of the nation of 8 million, one of the world's poorest.

There was no immediate indication of rebel plans to restore order in Mogadishu, site of weeks-long anarchy, widespread looting and wholesale bloodshed in which thousands of civilians have been slain and many more thousands left homeless. In today's broadcast, however, the rebels appealed for peace and called on all citizens to refrain from looting.

Telex and telephone lines between Somalia and the outside world have been inoperative for several weeks, since shortly after the clan-based rebel alliance began its offensive in Mogadishu on Dec. 30. Today, however, in a brief satellite telephone link to London, an international-aid worker in Mogadishu contacted the British Broadcasting Corp. and described the latest round of street fighting in the city.

The aid worker, identified as Murray Watson, said in the BBC interview that embattled government forces had lobbed dozens of artillery shells against civilian targets over the weekend and that hundreds of people had been killed. Other reports reaching Nairobi today described feverish looting by rebel soldiers and civilians of the presidential palace, called Villa Somalia, after the insurgents drove government troops away.

The rebel coalition -- which is based on regional clan affiliations that traditionally have defined political power in the country -- has accused the Siad Barre regime of numerous atrocities and human-rights abuses against political rivals during a harsh rule that began with a military coup in 1969.

Last year, the human-rights monitoring group Africa Watch estimated that Somali government forces had killed as many as 50,000 unarmed civilians between June 1988 and January 1990. The victims were said to have come mainly from the northern Isaak clan, which along with the large central Mogadishu Clan clan forms a large part of the rebel opposition to the regime. Siad Barre and most of his closest political allies are members of the tiny Marehan clan, which makes up less than 1 percent of Somalia's population.

During his years in power, Siad Barre steered the predominantly Moslem nation through shifting diplomatic associations with the Soviet Union and the United States, becoming Washington's closest ally in the Horn of Africa during most of the 1980s and the recipient of more than $700 million in economic and military aid.

In recent years, however, in the wake of continuing allegations of human-rights violations and a lessening of the strategic importance of the region, the United States cut back sharply on such payments.

The fierce conflict has driven at least 35,000 refugees to seek safety in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, according to U.N. officials here.

Washington Post - Jan. 27th, 1991

[Tallaabo]

Good riddance!! But I am sure some sad folks will be holding candle-lit vigil to commemorate and mourn the ugly defeat and subsequent ugly death of their cult leader. 

[Che -Guevara]

Tallaabo,

I don't get your issue with the man. You might not like him but he has a place in Somali history. Besides, you have own 'Mujahid' commemoration.

[Che -Guevara]

Siyad seems to be living rent free in a lot of people's mind.

 

[Tallaabo]

11 hours ago, Che -Guevara said:

Tallaabo,

I don't get your issue with the man. You might not like him but he has a place in Somali history. Besides, you have own 'Mujahid' commemoration.

Che it is his rather ugly "place in Somali history" I commented on. You know if it wasn't for him and his satanic henchmen, you wouldn't be a despised minority refugee in the US today. 

[Saalax]

It is easy to blame Siad Bare but what about the rebel groups who after taking power were unable to form a national government. If you are going to overthrow a government have a plan in place. 

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

20 hours ago, Che -Guevara said:

Siyad seems to be living rent free in a lot of people's mind.

 

Kiikuuyo Soomaalida isku diro rabo. I hope no sane Soomaali falls for this ridiculous isku dir ciyaaleed.

One can also use the same game of his, like the Jomo Kenyatta kursiga iyo hantida ka dhacay Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in the 1960s. The same issue rising again in 2013, when Jomo's son, Uhuru, usurped the rightly elected Raila Odinga, Jaramogi's son, from the presidency,

[gooni]

Qaxooti siyaad barre cidna kama dhigin kuwii kasoo qaxay dhulka Ethiopia haysato 77 waxay ahaayeen muwaadiniin la  xaquuq ah kuwa kale ama loogaba siyaadiyo.

Dadku ayagaa doortay dagaal sokeeye ayagoo akhristay kitaabkii c/laahi yuusuf.

Wuxuu ku dhihi jiray, beerihiina tabcada kaluunkiinana lasoo baxa caruurta iskool lacag la'aana geeya nabad ku seexda  oo shaydaanka iska naara.

Soomaaliya waxaa burburiyay waa "been" ay "addicted" "mudmin", ama balwad aysan ka maarmin u noqotay.

Waxaan xasuustaa kuwa iga nolol fiicnaa oo guryahooda shimbiro ka dhex sharqami jireen, yaa koorso yurubtii shuuciga naloogu wada diray, intoodii badnayd shaatigay iska baxiyeen, ayagoo feero qaawan bay gaaladii  yurubta waqooyi been u sheegeen.

Dadka laga tirada badanyahay baan ahay kow

Hooyaday buulkii baa siyaad barre ku duqeeyay.

Caruurtaydii meel kuma sheego xaaskiina waa hore yaa layga kaxaystay.

Warqad bay iisoo direen ay leeyihiin beentaas kusoo cid gal.

Beentaas ay sheegeen maalintaas ilaa iyo maanta caruurtoodii bay ka goyn la'yihiin, masaajid kasta way geeyeen dhaqan celin kasta way u sameeyaan dhakhtaradii way kala quusteen.

Daawadii wali way daba marsan yihiin.

War bal beenta jooji si ducadaada loo aqbalo.

Eedadaa aabahaa la dhalatay hadaad yurub ku gayso inaad qabto oo ay xaas kuu tahay, waa xaaskaaga shaydaan baa kugu meheriyay.

Beentu waa dambiyada ugu waawayn shareecadeena suuban.

Siyaad barre iyo farmaajo waa labo nin oo aad u kala fog 

Hadaad aragto nin kugu dhaha siyaad barre yaan la kulmay waa shilkiisii ka dib.

Waligiis dawaco miis u fadhiyo kuma cayaarin sida farmaajo.

Aragtidayda waxay ahayd maalin madaw oo dhashay sodon sano oo madaw, allaha u naxariisto zaciimkaas.

(Allow yaa noo diga markaan duqa ku yaacaynay) 
Bacadle naxariistii jano allaha ka waraabiyo.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Allowumanaxariistaha will not be missed by the majority of the people. A one proud nation bu ku so koobay. Xoolo reerkisu leeyahay ayu ka dhigay. isku dirka iyo  xumaan beerista shaqadisa ayay ahayd. 

 

[gooni]

6 hours ago, Xaaji Xunjuf said:

Allowumanaxariistaha will not be missed by the majority of the people. A one proud nation bu ku so koobay. Xoolo reerkisu leeyahay ayu ka dhigay. isku dirka iyo  xumaan beerista shaqadisa ayay ahayd. 

 

Xaaji siyaad barre ilaahay naxariista snm uguma dhiibin

Adeerkaa cigaal baa sidaas oo kale yiri BBC geeridiisii ka dib, labadaba allaha u naxriisto.