Abdirahman Jama Barre was born in 1937 in the southern town of Luuq, Italian Somaliland.

[3] Following the bloodless 1969 coup d'état, Barre was named Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the new ruling Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) in 1970.

He subsequently became a member of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SSRP) in 1976, sitting on the political association's Central Committee.

[7] He represented the Somali Democratic Republic in this capacity at the United Nations General Assembly.

[12] He would hold both 1st Deputy Prime and Finance Minister positions until the collapse of the central government in January 1991.

[3][11] Barre was part of the governmental Suhl (Reconciliation) group, of which Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, who would go on to become President of Somalia, was a key founder.