Siad Barre was forced to flee Mogadishu by tank due to opposition forces storming the presidental palace and a popular rising in the capital on the 26th of January 1991, before joining his fellow clansman in the southwest. A few months later, the after what remained of his military forces were defeated and he was forced to retreat into the interior, he crossed Kenyan border. The American ambassdor to Somalia James Bishop recalled of Siad Barre after a meeting on the 27th of December 1990:
>Siad’s stride was vigorous for a man in his eighties, his handshake was firm, and his mind was alert. Having had to listen the previous day to the Somali Ambassador to Washington [by now Siad Barre’s son-in-law] insist for an hour that the situation in the country is in all important respects normal, and having been told by admiral [Said] Marino that peace had returned to the northwest as we chatted while I waited for Siad, I was surprised by the presldent’s [sic] realism in acknowledging the regime’s plight. However, he is considerably smarter than my other two interlocutors and certainly wise enough to realize he would have no credibility pretending to anyone living in Mogadishu that conditions here resemble normalcy [. . .] My general impression was that I was dealing with a worried man who does not feel he has a gameplan [sic] which will allow him to overcome the problems before him. Nevertheless he seemed intent to muddle on, giving no hint that he might be thinking of heading toward the exit.
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Siad Barre was forced to flee Mogadishu by tank due to opposition forces storming the presidental palace and a popular rising in the capital on the 26th of January 1991, before joining his fellow clansman in the southwest. A few months later, the after what remained of his military forces were defeated and he was forced to retreat into the interior, he crossed Kenyan border. The American ambassdor to Somalia James Bishop recalled of Siad Barre after a meeting on the 27th of December 1990:
>Siad’s stride was vigorous for a man in his eighties, his handshake was firm, and his mind was alert. Having had to listen the previous day to the Somali Ambassador to Washington [by now Siad Barre’s son-in-law] insist for an hour that the situation in the country is in all important respects normal, and having been told by admiral [Said] Marino that peace had returned to the northwest as we chatted while I waited for Siad, I was surprised by the presldent’s [sic] realism in acknowledging the regime’s plight. However, he is considerably smarter than my other two interlocutors and certainly wise enough to realize he would have no credibility pretending to anyone living in Mogadishu that conditions here resemble normalcy [. . .] My general impression was that I was dealing with a worried man who does not feel he has a gameplan [sic] which will allow him to overcome the problems before him. Nevertheless he seemed intent to muddle on, giving no hint that he might be thinking of heading toward the exit.