Children of former Somali dictator live in Ohio, run Medicare-funded businesses, sparking survivor outrage
Ayanle and Deka Siad Barre, children of former Somali ruler Siad Barre, reside in Columbus, Ohio, where their enterprises have received $1.8 million in Medicare funds, prompting anger from genocide survivors.
When Siad Barre’s Soviet-backed dictatorship collapsed in 1991, his son Ayanle Siad Barre and daughter Deka Mohamed Siad moved to Columbus, Ohio, where they now live in a modest suburban home. Ayanle, once a senior official in the regime, is linked to a Medicare-financed home-health business that collected $1.8 million, a translation firm, and a café selling traditional Somali sweets. Deka co-ran Vanguard Home Health Care before her husband’s death in 2021.
Members of the local Somali community, many of whom endured mass killings and displacement under the Barre regime, have voiced shock and are urging U.S. authorities to probe the family’s activities. Historian Mohamed Haji Ingiriis described Ayanle as the de facto ruler during his father’s illness, while activist Suleiman Bolaleh demands accountability for alleged war crimes and any illicit wealth. The episode underscores deep tensions within Columbus’s sizable Somali diaspora.
Why it matters
It highlights how alleged perpetrators' families can prosper abroad, raising questions about accountability and immigration policy.
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