Coup Atlas Research Database
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52004271970ConspiracyDissident coup

Somalia, 1970 — dissident coup conspiracy

Somalia (SOM)East Africa, AfricaApril 27, 1970

Event Summary

This entry is coded 27 April 1970, during the internal power struggle within the Supreme Revolutionary Council that had seized power in Somalia after Major General Siad Barre's bloodless coup of 21 October 1969. The SRC, formed following the assassination of President Abdirashid Shermarke, initially presented a collective leadership, with Lieutenant General Salaad Gabeyre Kediye holding the honorary title Father of the Revolution and Chief of Police Jama Ali Korshel as a leading figure alongside Barre. Over the following months Barre maneuvered to consolidate personal control, and early SRC figures were sidelined; one source records the removal of a senior member in March 1970.

Kediye and Vice President Mohamed Ainanshe Guleid were later charged with plotting to assassinate Barre and, together with Colonel Abdulkadir Dheel, were publicly executed by firing squad in 1972. The April 1970 coding sits in this early period of SRC factional plotting and purges as Barre entrenched his rule.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Barre consolidated personal control of the SRC; rivals were sidelined and later executed
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Major General Siad Barre (SRC head, consolidating power)
Salaad Gabeyre Kediye ('Father of the Revolution', later executed)
Mohamed Ainanshe Guleid (vice president, later executed)

Sources

Salad Gabeyre Kediye, who held the title Father of the Revolution, and then Vice President Mohamed Ainanshe were charged with attempting to assassinate President Siad Barre, and along with Colonel Abdulkadir Dheel were publicly executed.
SOURCE REVIEWED WardheerNews: Somalia at Sixty, Part II open source ↗
A power struggle in the ranks of the SRC took place, with Siad Barre eventually rising to become Somalia's leader; Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Abdulkadir Dheel were executed in public by firing squad in 1972.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 1969 Somali coup d'etat open source ↗
The 25-member Supreme Revolutionary Council took over all duties of the state after the coup, banned political parties, and persecuted dissidents.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 1969 Somali coup d'etat open source ↗
Mohamed Farah Salad's tenure ran from 1 November 1969 to March 1970, reflecting the early SRC reshuffles as Barre consolidated control.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Somali Democratic Republic open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete plot is precisely dated 27 Apr 1970 in the sources located this session; the coding sits in the early SRC factional plotting and purge period as Barre consolidated power (the Kediye-Ainanshe assassination charges culminated in 1972 executions). Context with strong framing. First Somalia record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
52004271970

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Barre consolidated personal control of the SRC; rivals were sidelined and later executed.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

The Guardian

“Police chief held in Somalia,” April 28, 1970

LA Times

“Somalia’s Police Chief Held in Plot,” April 28, 1970

Washington Post

“Somalia Police Chief Seized; Faces Charges of Treason: Around the World,” April 28, 1970

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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