Changes

Defeated abroad and weakened at home, Barre responded to growing internal opposition—especially from the Isaaq clan in the north—with brutal force. In the late 1980s, his regime launched a full-scale military assault on northern cities such as Hargeisa, Berbera, and Bur’o. Prior to the bombings, Isaaq civilians were forcibly marched through the desert toward Ethiopia’s border. Barre's racist [[Isaaq genocide]] claimed the lives of 200,000. Entire cities were depopulated and reduced to rubble. By 1990, over 360,000 Somali refugees had crossed into Ethiopia. The Washington Post estimated that 50,000 civilians—most of them from the Isaaq clan—were killed. (It is believed, Colonel Nur Omar Mohamed, [[Ilhan Omar]]’s father, played a direct or enabling role in the genocide).

Defeated abroad and weakened at home, Barre responded to growing internal opposition—especially from the Isaaq clan in the north—with brutal force. In the late 1980s, his regime launched a full-scale military assault on northern cities such as Hargeisa, Berbera, and Bur’o. Prior to the bombings, Isaaq civilians were forcibly marched through the desert toward Ethiopia’s border. Barre's racist [[Isaaq genocide]] claimed the lives of 200,000. Entire cities were depopulated and reduced to rubble. By 1990, over 360,000 Somali refugees had crossed into Ethiopia. The Washington Post estimated that 50,000 civilians—most of them from the Isaaq clan—were killed. (It is believed, Colonel Nur Omar Mohamed, [[Ilhan Omar]]’s father, played a direct or enabling role in the genocide).

Despite signing a peace agreement with Ethiopia in 1988, Barre's government remained unstable. His heavy-handed socialist policies, militarism, and reliance on foreign communist powers had left the country economically crippled and politically fractured.

Despite signing a peace agreement with Ethiopia in 1988, Barre's government remained unstable. His heavy-handed socialist policies, [[militarism]], and reliance on foreign communist powers had left the country economically crippled and politically fractured.

By 1991, after years of repression, civil war, and mounting opposition from across Somalia’s clans and regions, Siad Barre was overthrown and fled into exile—bringing an end to a disastrous regime that had plunged Somalia into chaos and set the stage for decades of unrest.

By 1991, after years of repression, civil war, and mounting opposition from across Somalia’s clans and regions, Siad Barre was overthrown and fled into exile—bringing an end to a disastrous regime that had plunged Somalia into chaos and set the stage for decades of unrest.