Two children of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre are reportedly living in the Columbus, Ohio, area, where their presence has angered members of the Somali community whose families suffered under their father’s regime.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Two children of former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose military government has been blamed for mass killings and other atrocities during his 21-year rule, have established lives in the Columbus, Ohio, area alongside Somali refugees whose families were persecuted by his regime, according to a New York Post investigation.
Barre’s son, Ayanle Mohamed Siad, 61, and daughter, Deka Mohamed Siad, 69, reportedly settled in the United States after their father was driven from power in 1991.
Their presence in Ohio has produced a particularly painful contrast for some members of Columbus’ large Somali community, which includes people who escaped Barre’s government and families whose relatives were killed during his rule.
“Siad Barre and his men committed so many war crimes, so I was shocked to see his son in the mosque enjoying his freedom,” Ali-Guban Mohamed, whose family members were reportedly executed by forces loyal to Barre, told the Post.
Ayanle has been described as considerably more than simply the dictator’s son.
Historian Mohamed Haji Ingiriis characterized him as Barre’s “right-hand man” during the final years of the government and said Ayanle wielded substantial authority while his father remained in power.
“He was so powerful that he was able to appoint and dismiss regime authorities on behalf of his father,” Ingiriis said.
According to Ingiriis, Ayanle at one stage effectively exercised control over the government while Barre was incapacitated.
The Post reported that Ayanle now resides in a suburb of Columbus, thousands of miles from the country where his father’s government ruled through military power, political repression and violent campaigns against opponents.
Barre seized control of Somalia in a 1969 military coup and remained in power until his government collapsed in 1991.
His regime used imprisonment, persecution and military force against political opponents and communities regarded as threats to its authority. Among the most devastating campaigns was the government’s assault on the Isaaq population of northern Somalia.
Barre’s forces have been accused of widespread killings, destruction of cities, displacement of civilians and poisoning wells during that campaign. Estimates cited for the number of people killed under the regime reach as high as 200,000.
For survivors and their descendants now living in Ohio, the discovery that members of Barre’s immediate family were residing within the same community has revived memories of that period.
Deka also reportedly made her home in Ohio with her late husband, Abdikarim Ali Omar, who previously served as a Somali ambassador.
The couple operated Vanguard Home Health Care, according to the Post. The company received more than $1.8 million in Medicare payments before shutting down following Omar’s death in 2021.
Medicare is federally funded, meaning the payments placed a business operated by Barre’s daughter and son-in-law within the U.S. taxpayer-supported health care system decades after the family fled Somalia following the dictatorship’s collapse.
The reported Medicare payments do not by themselves establish wrongdoing by Deka, Omar or the company. Rather, they document federal health care reimbursements received by the business while it operated.
The circumstances surrounding Ayanle carry additional historical significance because of allegations about the authority he exercised within his father’s government.
According to Ingiriis, Ayanle occupied a position close enough to Barre that he could influence government appointments and dismissals and temporarily function as the country’s de facto ruler when his father could not fully perform his duties.
Barre’s fall in 1991 ended more than two decades of authoritarian rule but was followed by the collapse of Somalia’s central government and years of civil conflict.
Members of the Barre family subsequently dispersed outside the country, while large numbers of Somalis displaced by dictatorship, warfare and instability eventually resettled abroad, including in the United States.
Columbus became home to a substantial Somali population, producing the unusual circumstance in which members of the former ruler’s family now live in proximity to people whose relatives were allegedly killed or persecuted by his government.
For Mohamed, encountering Barre’s son in an American mosque underscored that contradiction: a man linked by family — and, according to Ingiriis, by political authority — to the former dictatorship was able to live freely in the same country that provided refuge to some of the regime’s victims.
The Post’s investigation has now drawn renewed attention to how members of Barre’s family reached the United States, the lives they established after arriving and Ayanle’s alleged role during the final years of one of Somalia’s most violent political eras.
Original article
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