Dictators of Africa – Part 4
Mohamed Siad Barre – Somalia – 1969–1991
Chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Council 1969-1976; President of Somalia 1976-1991. In 1969, during the power vacuum following the assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, the military staged a coup and took over. Barre was to rule for the next twenty-two years. He attempted to develop a personality cult; large posters of him were common in the capital Mogadishu during his reign, many of which can still be seen today. He dreamed of a “Greater Somalia” and tried unsuccessfully to annex the Ogaden—legally Ethiopian territory—in 1977 to realize this end (see Ogaden War).
Anwar Sadat – Egypt – 1970–1981
President of Egypt 1970-1981. Unelected, suppressed opposition in what was termed “The Corrective Revolution”, Assassinated.
President of Uganda, later (1976) declared as for Life. Deposed in 1979 after declaring war on Tanzania.
Mengistu Haile Mariam – Ethiopia – 1974–1991
Chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council (Derg) in 1974 and 1977–1987; President of Ethiopia 1987-1991. One-party state; repression of opposition; tens of thousands of extrajudicial killings.
Olusegun Obasanjo – Nigeria – 1976–1979
Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria between 1976 and 1979. Elected President of Nigeria in 1999. Chairman of the African Union 2004-2006.
Jean-Baptiste Bagaza – Burundi – 1976–1987
President of Burundi. Widely described as a military dictator.
Albert René – Seychelles – 1977–2004
President of Seychelles. Deposed the elected president Sir James Mancham and promulgated a one-party constitution after a period of rule by decree. Created the National Youth Service (NYS), a compulsory educational institution that included traditional curricula interlaced with political indoctrination and paramilitary training.
