[1] On 15 October 1969, while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod, Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards.
[2] His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on the afternoon of 21 October 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition.
[2] Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination was led by Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye, General Mohamed Ainanshe Guled and Chief of Police Jama Korshel.
[3] The SRC renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic,[4][5] arrested members of the former civilian government, banned political parties,[6] dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.
[10] The SRC further enacted a number of reforms designed to weaken the influence of traditional lineage structures and processes, which Barre regarded as a potential threat to his rule.
Offences deemed clan-related were punished with fines and prison sentences, and traditional headmen employed by the previous civilian administration were substituted with hand-picked government peacekeepers (nabod doon).
[8] In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government claiming to be based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets.