Somaliland also is concerned that many people at the conference are former members of the Barre regime, which tried to destroy Somaliland during the civil war.

Farah's early novels about Somalia under the Barre regime were not well received by the authorities, and he was forced into exile.

For the Barre regime, the invasion was perhaps the greatest strategic blunder since independence, and it weakened the military.

By the mid-to-late-1970s, public discontent with the Barre regime was increasing, largely due to corruption among government officials as well as poor economic performance.

Isaaq tribe members had founded the movement in 1981 as emigres to London with the express purpose of overthrowing the Barre regime.

A political party that was active in the 1960s but was forced into dissolution during the Barre regime.

He was eventually released and was named the Ambassador to India (1976-1978) before the Barre regime imprisoned him again on charges of conspiracy until 1985.

When the Barre regime eventually collapsed in 1991 with the start of the civil war, local leaders in north Somalia declared the region independent.

If the Barre regime had left behind only the rudiments of the national police and the Somali Army, this would not be the case.

The shift in support by the Soviet Union would ultimately motivate the Barre regime to seek allies elsewhere.