By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC News

A Somalia-based terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at a Kenyan mall on Saturday that left at least 39 shoppers dead and scores more injured.

In a series of tweets and email messages to news organizations, the hard-line Islamist group al-Shabab said it sent men armed with AK-47s and grenades into Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall as “retribution” for Kenya’s efforts to help the Somalian government defeat it.

“HSM has on numerous occasions warned the #Kenyan government that failure to remove its forces from Somalia would have severe consequences,” said one tweet on al-Shabab’s official Twitter account, HSM Press Office, which refers to its full name, Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen

 According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, al-Shabab — “the Youth” in Arabic” — was formed in 2006 in Somalia, and soon became a major threat to the weak transitional Somali government. It was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 2008 and in 2012 formally allied itself with al Qaeda.

 Al-Shabab’s immediate goal is to topple the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which is supported by the African Union and Western nations, and impose Islamic Shariah law on the impoverished nation in northern Africa. But neighboring nations fear that it could have a destabilizing effect throughout the region if it were to succeed, and, led by Kenya, intervened in 2011 to halt a series of military advances by the rebels.

The U.S. has asserted that the alliance of al-Shabab and al Qaeda poses a serious threat to Western interests and has increasingly concentrated its counter-terrorism operations on al-Shabab and other groups operating in Yemen and elsewhere in North Africa.

In addition to recruiting Muslims from within Africa, al-Shabab has had success luring young Muslim men from the West to join its cause, including a number of Americans.

Among the highest-profile recruits from the West was the so-called jihadi rapper Omar Hammami, an American from Alabama reportedly killed in Somalia earlier this month after a falling out with al-Shabab’s senior leader.

In May, four men in Minnesota also were imprisoned for enlisting 20 American men to travel to Somalia to fight for the terrorist group. A man from Ohio was similarly convicted in 2012 of raising money to send people from the U.S. to Somalia to aid the group in addition to sending money to Somalia for one of the recruits to buy a weapon.

Al-Shabab controlled many southern and central territories of Somalia but withdrew from Kismayo — the last of the areas it reigned — in 2012. Still, factions of the group continue to attack non-Muslims in Somalia and neighboring countries, specifically targeting governments and peacekeepers.

Related story

At least 39 dead in Kenya shopping mall attack; Americans among scores injured

Most recently, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a restaurant in Somalia that killed 15 and wounded 23 on Sept. 7.

A few days earlier, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud narrowly escaped a grenade attack on his convoy that al-Shabab said it inspired.

And in late August, four Kenyan police officers were killed by 40 men, thought to belong to the terrorist group.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: NBC

YET another in a long line of international conferences on Somalia concluded on September 16th with a “new deal” for the world’s most failed state. Aid pledges, both old and new, were repackaged with some admirable language about a “Somali-led” process and unveiled in Brussels. It was the fifth such gathering in two years. The Somali jihadist group, the Shabab, hit uncomfortably close to the truth when its spokesman dismissed the gathering as “Belgian waffle”.

On the same day an arguably more important meeting between the British government, Somali money-transfer firms and banks which plan to close the accounts of the remitters was cancelled. Barclays, which dominates the remittance business in Europe, intends to follow the lead of American banks which have closed the accounts of Somali money-transfer businesses, citing concerns over money laundering and their potential to fund terrorist groups in the Horn of Africa. The Somali money-transfer operators, who send cash back to Somalia from the diaspora, need bank accounts in Europe and the United States in order to do business in their host countries. Should Barclays go ahead with the closures it is unlikely another bank would step in.

The London summit had been meant to find a compromise ahead of Barclays’ September 30th deadline for closing the remittance agencies’ accounts. For their part, the remitters have offered to undergo rigorous auditing and agree new industry standards for transparency. They argue that the future of Somalia’s hawala network—the money-transfer system that developed in place of the country’s collapsed banking system—is at stake.

The limp response to the threat to Somalia’s remittance lifeline from the governments who are at the same time pledging aid has left many observers confused. “No aid can be as great and effective as this instrument,” says Abdi Aynte of the Heritage Institute, a think-tank based in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. “If Barclays pulls the trigger, it will certainly have a deleterious impact on hundreds of thousands of people across Somalia.” More than 750,000 Somalis currently reside and work in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Gulf states. The money they send home is equivalent to $1.3 billion a year, according to a recent study by Adeso, an African development charity. The new deal promised in Brussels is worth $1.8 billion split over three years.

There is also the issue of where this money goes. While Somali money transfers reach nearly half the population, the bulk of foreign aid goes to the federal government whose remit does not stretch beyond Mogadishu and a handful of other urban centres. Neither the northern breakaway territory of Somaliland nor the semi-autonomous region of Puntland recognises the government of the federal president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (pictured on the left with Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission), which the latter refers to as the “Mogadishu government”. Meanwhile the president has been forced to concede control of the southern port city of Kismayo to a former warlord, backed by neighbouring Kenya. Much of the rest of south and central Somalia is under the sway of the Shabab.

Given this fragmented picture many Somalis are more interested in preserving their old lifeline of remittances than in new deals agreed at foreign talking shops.

Source: The Economist

Remarks With Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. It’s my privilege to welcome to Washington and to the State Department His Excellency, the President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Actually, I’m welcoming him back to Washington, and we have met previously and I’m very pleased to be able to welcome him here.

The United States, obviously, has been engaged in helping Somalia fight back against tribal terror and the challenges to the cohesion of the state of Somalia. And the President and his allies have really done an amazing job of fighting back and building a state structure. There’s work yet to be done in Puntland and Somaliland, and we encourage you to continue the work of reaching out, of reconciliation and rebuilding the democracy, and I know he’s committed to that.

Also, I want to thank the President for his rapid support of the Joint Statement on Syria. We appreciate that kind of global recognition of what is at stake in Syria.

And finally, I’d just say that Somalia is working hard now to create its own ability to defend itself, to defend the state. We will continue to work. There is a United Nations mission there. We are committed to both – to the independent ability of the state of Somalia as well as the United Nations mission to help it in this transition. And we’re very happy to welcome the President here to talk today about issues of mutual interest.

Thank you, Mr. President.

President Mahmoud said  it was a pleasure and privilege to be here again this year in the State Department and the United States. And we – as the Secretary said rightly we’re working very hard together to establish the national institutions in all areas, particularly in security, where we are working very hard with the UNOSOM forces, and our national army is now taking shape and building up, of course, with the support of the United States Government that has always been with us. And this is a time we came here to share the ideas, the way forward we have, and particularly, the Vision 2016, where we want Somalia to go into the poll stations and make a voting for the first time in 40 years – more than 40 years, even.

And as you rightly said, we have been engaging with different stakeholders in Somalia. The federal government has the leadership, the parliament, all visiting different corners of Somalia to consult on this event. And the product of that consultation was the recent compact document signed in Brussels of the 16^th of this month. I, myself, and the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House, the parliamentarians, key ministers have been traveling all over Somalia. Although the situation in traveling locally is very difficult, but even then, you have to sit with the people, listen them, share with them the plans that we are intending, and asking them the type of Somalia they want to see in the future.

So based on that, we have signed agreements with Puntland State, and recently agreement with the Jubba regional administrations. And of course, we also did the same with Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a in the central region. So it takes some time. We have our own differences, but we are in a better shape than ever before now. We’re shaping for the first time a united and federal Somalia. The constitution is progressing and the federal system is working very hard. This federal government is working on all its capability to establish the federal unities in an orderly manner and with – in accordance and compliance with the federal constitution.

So there’s a huge progress that is going on in Somalia, and again, we are very much grateful with the support we received from the United States Government through bilateral and through multilateral. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT MOHAMUD: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir, very much. Please come. Thank you.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc-BKwzeLTM&feature=share

By Edmund Blair

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Abdusalam Omer has been replaced as Somalia’s central bank governor after seven months in the job, he said on Thursday, once again strongly denying graft allegations made by United Nations monitors.

The allegations in a U.N. report linking him to irregularities regarding millions of dollars withdrawn from the bank have also been formally rejected by the Somali government.

The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea said in July that Mogadishu’s central bank had become a “slush fund” for political leaders and that Omer had played a central role in irregularities surrounding unaccountable disbursements.

Omer, who has labeled the allegations malicious, said he was informed by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on September 13 that changes would be made at the bank. He submitted a letter of resignation the same day, he said.

Somalia has been struggling to rebuild its institutions and battered finances after two decades of conflict and chaos. Better management of public finances is seen by donors as vital to secure a recovery, debt relief and budget support.

Speaking in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Omer told Reuters by phone he was given no reason for the decision.

But he said it “is a possibility” that the government decided to remove him as a result of the report, even though an international probe commissioned by Mogadishu had dismissed its findings.

“My thinking is this: that if you play by the rules and you assemble a team, both diaspora and local people, and try to reform a dormant and important institution called the central bank, I guess you have no place in Somalia,” Omer said.

He said he would return to Somalia next week to conduct a handover.

A Somali financial source and Somali media said Omer’s replacement was Yussur Abrar. One Somali report said Abrar, who has worked in commercial banking abroad, was the country’s first woman governor of the central bank.

Officials could not immediately confirm the new appointment.

In Omer’s letter of resignation, obtained by Reuters, the former governor listed his achievements, such as producing the bank’s first balance sheet for 22 years.

In the letter, he said he was resigning with “regret and disappointment” and had told staff to ensure a smooth handover.

The Mogadishu government had commissioned FTI Consulting and a U.S. law firm to investigate the U.N. monitoring report findings. FTI’s chairman for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region is British peer and former minister Mark Malloch-Brown, once a deputy secretary general of the United Nations.

Somalia’s recovery is being hampered by an ongoing Islamist insurgency, deep-seated clan loyalties that continue to govern the way politics and business is conducted and vested interests of powerful politicians.

Source: Reuters

More than 1,500 women victims of genital mutiliation in shock statistics compiled by ONE hospital… and most are from Somalia

• The barbaric practice is most common in Muslim areas of Africa
• However at least 11 of the victims were born in Britain
• The practice is illegal in the UK but there have been no prosecutions

By Chris Pleasance

More than 1,500 new cases of female genital mutilation have been revealed by a single London maternity unit and staff admit that other cases could have ‘slipped through the net.’

St George’s hospital in Tooting has treated nearly  200 women a year since it started keeping records on the violent practice.

While most of the 1,546 victims treated in the hospital’s specialist unit were born in Somalia, disturbing statistics show that at least 11 were born in the UK, where genital mutilation has been a crime since 1985.

Rudimentary tools are often used to perform the operations, like these found in Kenya (pictured left). The procedure is often performed on young girls like nine-year-old Fay Mohammed (pictured right).

Others were from Nigeria or Eritrea where the practice is common among some Muslim communities.

Campaigners described the statistics as ‘horrifying’ while staff at the hospital said it shows the tribal practice remains relatively common.

Karen Lewis, a midwife at St George’s, warned that some staff  were fearful of getting involved because they saw the backstreet operations as a cultural issue, rather than abuse.

She said: ‘The women we see have often faced years of pain and suffer flashbacks and other psychological problems. Some of them are also terrified of childbirth because of what’s happened to them in the past.’

More…

• 2,000 female genital mutilation victims seek help at London hospitals in just three years but true figure is ‘far more than figures show’
• Dentist struck off for offering to perform female genital mutilation on girls as young as 10 in Birmingham

‘Some of them also don’t realise that FGM is wrong and are quite horrified when we tell them.

‘So we need to do much more to raise awareness and have a big educational campaign to stop it happening to more girls in the future.’

One nurse at St George’s hospital said that some staff view FGM as a cultural issue rather than abuse

Battersea MP Jane Ellison, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on female genital mutilation, said: ‘Many of these women are suffering the chronic health problems associated with FGM.

‘Yet again we are shown that there is a big problem to which our health and other public services must respond.’

Despite the high number of cases – 80 so far this year – nobody has yet been prosecuted for the practice.

The Crown Prosecution Service says it is studying five case files passed on by the Metropolitan Police.

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, has said it is only a matter of time before somebody is prosecuted but efforts are being hampered by victim’s unwillingness to come forward.

FGM – PAINFUL, BARBARIC AND SOMETIMES DEADLY

Female genital mutilation, or FGM, is a common practice among some Muslim communities across the middle of Africa, including Somalia, Eritrea, North Sudan and central Mali.

It is also present in Muslim communities in Indonesia, Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

The operation involves cutting or removing female sexual tissue. It can also involve stitching using silk thread or catgut.

The process is supposed to cleanse the woman of sexual impurity and victims can spend up to 40 days bound from the waist down while healing.

The operation is usually performed on children or young girls before entering adolescence, though ages vary from community to community.

Given that most surgeries are performed by untrained women, commonly Aunts of the girls or village matrons, risks include infection, pain, sterility, and death due to blood loss.

Due to the nature of the wounds, problems can occur later during childbirth.

While the practice has been illegal in the UK since 1985, there have so far been no prosecutions due in part to victim’s reluctance to come forward, and also because some women do not recognise it as a crime.

The practice is also specifically outlawed in Belgium, Sweden and some US states.

In Africa several nations, including Somalia, have made declarations against the practice though across the continent legislation is patchy and difficult to enforce.

Government pledges to improve its peoples’ lives in return for $2.4bn in aid, but critics remain sceptical.

Turkey is building schools across Somalia to restart an education system that has been dormant for over 20 years of conflict. Photo by Will Swanson

By Kyle Westawa
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Two flags now fly over Mogadishu. There’s the Somali one, of course: white star, blue background. The other’s rise over the battered concrete sprawl is more recent. It flies over schools and hospitals, is stamped on trucks and painted on trash bins. The white-and-red emblem even shares the desk of the city’s mayor.“The Turkish are giving the kind of support we have never seen before. They are changing the face of Mogadishu,” says Somali President Hasan Sheikh Mohamud.

The two nations’ flags were flapping in the breeze side-by-side above the Mogadishu airstrip on August 19, 2011, when Turkish Prime MinisterTayyip Erdogan touched down for the first visit by a non-African head of state in nearly two decades. At the time, thousands of Somalis were dying each day in the middle of the worst famine in over half a century, yet foreign dignitaries dared not enter.
That year, Erdogan pledged $49 million to Somalia. In 2012, Turkey spent $70 million on full scholarships to over 1,200 Somali students to study in Turkish universities, making Turkey the largest non-OECD donor in Somalia. And private Turkish citizens donated $365 million on top.
Turkey claims its revamping an outmoded and inefficient aid system, and, in the process, improving more lives.
“Big western donors work through the UN agencies with bureaucracy and high administration costs,” says Kani Torun, Turkish Ambassador to Somalia. “But we use the money to directly support Somalis, and the government of Turkey covers all the administration fees.”
The Somali government says the difference is evident: just look at the results, says President Mohamud. “They are creating modern hospitals and establishing the education system. This cannot be delivered through NGOs and through UN agencies. Bilateral aid is what Somalia needs,” he said.

Dumpsters from the city of Istanbul, which is leading sanitation operations in Mogadishu. Photo by Will SwansonWill Swanson
________________________________

At his office, the Mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamed Nur, continued the argument.

Compare the Turkish approach to the UN approach, he said.

“If I request computers from the UN, they will take months and require a number of assessments. They will spend $50,000 to give me $7,000 of equipment. If I request computers from Turkey, they will show up next week.” At this crucial moment of transition from chaos to tentative stability, this immediate impact is what Somalia needs most, he said.

But not all are enamored with the bold new initiatives of the Turks. Some donorscomplain a lack of coordination with the rest of foreign aid institutions results at times in duplicating efforts.

“If the UN Agencies want to coordinate, then come to Mogadishu and we can coordinate,” Ambassador Torun responds. “But we can’t spend all of our time going to meetings in Nairobi when our work is here in Mogadishu.”

Most Western agencies continue to base their Somali operations out of Nairobi, Kenya, citing longstanding security concerns. Turkey knows the risks well; in July, six people died when US-designated terrorist group al-Shabab attacked the Turkish embassy. The Turks stayed nonetheless.

Turkey stands to benefit from its more engaged approach here as the Somali government returns the favor. The Somali government recently awarded a Turkish company, Favori LLC, the contract to renovate, maintain and operate the Mogadishu airport for the next 20 years. And although the Somalia government signed its first new oil exploration deal with a British company, the minister of natural resources, Abdirisak Omar Mohamed, noted that he would have awarded it to the Turks “if Turkey was willing to sign a contract, but Turkey never came and asked for a contract.”

The new Turkish ties filter all the way down to Somalia’s famously entrepreneurial family businesses. Local contractor Abdunir Abukar works with a Turkish company rehabilitating properties across Mogadishu. His workers initially resisted working with the Turks, he said, due to communication barriers and a Somali work ethic that atrophied over two decades of conflict. “Our employees have adapted. They have learned discipline and technical skills from them.”

These small changes can multiply quickly. A more disciplined and skilled workforce encourages thediaspora to return and help rebuild, which in turn creates more stability, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of development.

Abdul Majeed Iman owned several shops prior to the civil war. His buildings and inventory were completely destroyed. He returned to Mogadishu in 2010 and re-opened a retail shop. Now, he sources some of his merchandise from Turkey.

“Turkish companies have requested to work together. They have offered to fly businessmen over to Turkey to discuss how they could cooperate,” he said. Despite his own entrepreneurial background, he adds: “We can learn from the Turkish expertise.”

Turkey sees the tightening business ties as more beneficial than the aid it provides. “We encourage business activity because it’s good for Somalis, it creates jobs, teaches Somalis skills and creates less aid dependency,” said Ambassador Torun. Of course, Turkey is looking to profit as well.

Turkish business moving in to Somalia are in direct competition with other international companies operating in Somalia, at times resulting in a zero-sum game for key contracts. For instance, SKA, a company from Dubai, had a 10-year contract to operate the airport. But the Somali government abruptly cancelled the contract and gave it instead to a Turkish company, leaving some to question whether Turkey’s aid has created an unfair competitive advantage with the Somali government.

By accepting the risks here when nobody else was willing to, Turkey more than any other country, is poised to cash in on the rise of a stable Somalia. It’s a unique soft power strategy: more direct than Western nations, more cooperative and willing to transfer skills than China.

Since 2005, Turkey has significantly increased its presence in Africa, going from 12 embassies in 2005 to 34 today. Its aggressive expansion demonstrates a desire to fight for influence on the continent that is poised to be the fastest growing over the next few decades, adding 1.3 billion people by 2050. The general narrative is that China is the most important partner to Africa, but if Somalia is any indication, Turkey might be a real contender.
________________________________
Kyle Westaway splits his time between Brooklyn and Nairobi. He writes on entrepreneurship, tech, social innovation, emerging economies and East Africa. He is author of the upcoming book Profit and Purpose.
You can follow Kyle on twitter @kylewestaway. We welcome your comments atideas@qz.com

Many Somalis rely on money sent from family in Britain, but the tap may be turned off

Shamis Abokor was once Somalia’s hottest pop singer, belting out love songs in front of thousands of adoring fans.
Then she suffered a disastrous stoke and for the past 16 years she has been confined to her tiny concrete home, cared for by relatives. Today, aged 78, she is bedridden and semi-paralysed. She survives with dignity thanks to her daughter in the UK, who sends her hundreds of pounds every month via a Somali money transfer operator (MTO) called Dahabshiil.
A few streets away in his tidy, windowless office, Ahmed Aliubaxle is a symbol of why Somaliland, the self-declared independent republic in the north-west, is so different from Mogadishu and points south, still racked by civil war. His father emigrated to Birmingham, made some money in property and sent it home, where Ahmed used it to import used vehicles from Dubai and re-selling them. He is now the boss of a major freight forwarding company, moving everything from wheelchairs to construction equipment across the world.
But Somaliland, like the rest of the country, has no banks, so he depends on Dahabshiil for his firm’s growth. “Without Dahabshiil I would have no way to get cars from Dubai or a generator from China,” he explains. “The only way would be to fly to China with a suitcase full of dollars.”
Across town, Alima Abdi’s little grocery shop is no more than a window in a stone wall, but it helps feed her and her five children. It was set up with the help of her sister who works in London, and still sends $200 a month.
Ms Abokor, Mr Ahmed and Ms Abdi are just three of the millions of Somalis who owe their survival to “the economy of compassion” – the relatives abroad who send regular sums month after month and year after year. The total remitted annually is believed to be about $1.3bn (£830m), or half of Somalia’s national income, and dwarfs international aid. At least 40 per cent of Somalis depend on these payments: the true figure may be much higher, because the remittances are often divided among numerous relatives. Somalis in the UK alone remit some $500m a year.
With a federal government shakily holding on to power in Mogadishu and violence significantly reduced, Somalia and the EU co-host a conference of international donors in Brussels today, intended to chart a new course to peace and prosperity.
But on 30 September, those hopeful prospects will be thrown into jeopardy when Barclays closes the accounts of 250 Somali MTOs, including Dahabshiil, which is much the biggest of the lot.
Barclays initially announced, in a letter to Dahabshiil and others dated 8 May, that the accounts would be closed on 30 July. It wrote: “Acceptance and eligibility criteria have been amended for customers in this sector,  which unfortunately means we will no longer be able to provide banking services to businesses that fall outside of these.”
For everyone involved in helping to haul Somalia back from the brink after its years of civil war and famine, the disastrous implications were immediately clear. Simon Levine of the Overseas Development Institute said: “The famine of 2011 is largely over, so we’re back to the situation where one in seven young children are so skinny that they are classified as ‘acutely malnourished’… If Barclays pull out of Somalia and there is no way to send money, what happens when families whose kids are already malnourished lose a quarter of their income? And what happens to the economy, to jobs, to investment when a quarter of the money just disappears? There is a risk that the consequences could be even worse and much longer-lasting than the 2011 famine itself.”
Ahmed Aliubaxle, freight forwarder: ‘Without Dahabshiil … the only way would be to fly to China with a suitcase full of dollars’
For the international aid community, the severing of the remittance pipeline threatens to spark a new Somali emergency. And the effect on the agencies is even more direct than that, because in the absence of banks, they depend on the MTOs to funnel aid money to their Somali projects. The vast majority of them, including Oxfam, Care International and World Vision, use Dahabshiil, as does the United Nations.
Founded in 1970 in Burao, near Hargeisa, Dahabshiil’s head office is in Whitechapel in east London, while in Somalia it has 268 agencies across the country. Inside Somaliland, where its dominance is overwhelming, it describes itself as a bank and fulfils all of a bank’s normal functions.
With 5,000 employees spread across 150 countries, this family-owned company has become big and profitable enough to keep abreast of the ever-changing regulations of the banking sector in Europe and the US. During a 15-year relationship, Barclays has regularly acknowledged that Dahabshiil is fully compliant with industry regulations.
As a UK banking industry insider confirmed, it is US not British regulators that are setting the pace in the crackdown, following the massive fines imposed last year on HSBC ($1.9bn) and Standard Chartered ($330m) for facilitating money-laundering. “The main pressure is from the US regulator,” he said. “They are the ones on the hunt.”
The irony is that, just one month before Barclays’ announcement, Dahabshiil received a ringing endorsement in the US. Seeking a solution to transparency problems with Somali MTOs, a US Bankcorp spokesman said: “We are pleased that we may have recently found a solution with one remitter – Dahabshiil… We are currently in discussions with this remitter to ensure all parties understand the terms and requirements necessary.”
The Barclays bombshell provoked a storm of protest and concern, and Barclays responded by extending the deadline to 30 September. But it has so far refused to contemplate a U-turn. Writing to Oxfam, Anthony Jenkins, the Barclays chief executive, said: “There are a number of serious concerns about the operation [of MTOs], with the sector at particular risk of being used for the transmission of the proceeds of crime, for money laundering, and for terrorist financing. This risk is exacerbated by a lack of transparency on who the remitters and end-receivers are in transactions.”
In Nairobi last week, Abdirashid Duale, Dahabshiil’s chief executive, said: “It’s all to do with fear. The banks are worried about Somalia because all they read is bad news about piracy, Al-Shabaab [the militant Al-Qa’ida offshoot] and so on – but they never go to Somalia to see for themselves. They fear that some day, something might happen, and ever since 9/11 Somalia has been harassed and stigmatised because of that fear. But the fact is that all the 9/11 terrorists used Western banking institutions… We are not asking any favours. If any company broke the law, they should face the law.”
Mr Duale has drafted a set of proposals to address the banks’ fears: improving the institutional capacity of the MTOs in technology and compliance systems, setting up third-party monitoring and certification inside Somalia, helping the Somali government to introduce biometric scanning to remove uncertainty about the identity of recipients, and setting up a fund which would effectively insure the Western banks against financial penalties. He also agrees on the need for greater collaboration between Somali MTOs. “We Somalis need to work together, or we will die together,” he said.
But so far there is no indication that Barclays will grant the MTOs a year of grace, as Oxfam and others have demanded. So what solutions are open to Somalis who want to maintain the lifeline to their families?
The obvious answer is to go back to the old-fashioned, unregulated, hole-in-the-corner hawala firms, which rely on the trust between members of the same Somali clans. “Somalis will find a way,” said Ed Pomfret, Oxfam’s campaigns and policy manager in Somalia. “We’re asking Somalis to pack suitcases with cash and carry it to Mogadishu. For a government dedicated to fighting money laundering, that doesn’t make any sense.”
Killing the patient to cure the disease…
$1.3bn
Total remitted to Somalia annually, about half of its national income
40
Percentage of Somalis relying on remittances
250
MTOs who will have their UK accounts closed

Source: independent

 President Mohamud said the deal would open a “new chapter” for Somalia

The European Union has pledged 650m euro ($860m; £540m) at a conference in Brussels to help Somalia end more than two decades of conflict.

The money is part of a “New Deal” for what is widely regarded as a failed state, officials said.

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab dismissed the meeting as “Belgian waffle”.

Al-Shabab is fighting to oust Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government, the first to be recognised by the US in more than 20 years.

The group controls most of southern Somalia, but it has been driven out of the main cities and towns, including the capital Mogadishu, by an African Union (AU) force backing the government.

BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper says the New Deal will see the Somali government spearheading initiatives to promote peace and state-building.

Source: BBC

Somalia is a good test case for the New Deal. It certainly fits the criteria for a fragile state, given that for six years in a row it has come top of the list of the world’s most failed states.

The New Deal focuses on peace and state-building. Without these, goes the argument, there can be no meaningful development, and aid money simply goes to waste. This has certainly been the case in Somalia, where billions of dollars have been thrown at a problem that refuses to go away.

The EU and Somalia argue that now is a good time to adopt the New Deal. They say the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front.

But it is possible that the Brussels meeting will simply be the latest in the long list of expensive conferences on Somalia that end with ambitious communiques but have little or no impact on the development of the country.

The EU and Somali government believe now is a good time to adopt the programme as the country has entered a new era, with a more legitimate government and progress on the security front, our correspondent says.

Mr Mohamud told the BBC Somali service he welcomed the New Deal.

“It’s a standard deal throughout the world in the post-conflict environment. This is a deal that is based on Somalia-led initiatives,” he said.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the extra money would support a “new phase in the life of Somalia”.

It would be in addition to the $1.6bn the EU gave Somalia from 2008 to 2013, he said.

Most of this money was used to finance the AU force of some 18,000 troops, AFP news agency reports reports.

Separately, the UK said it would contribute £50m ($80m) to the New Deal.

The money would go towards improving health and water services and rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by war, it said.

The UK’s ambassador to Somalia, Neil Wigan, said the conference was “a major milestone”, AFP reports.

Diplomats were hoping to see more than $1bn in pledges to help rebuild Somalia, it reports.

“Our combined efforts will maintain momentum and deliver the change that the people of Somalia desperately need,” Mr Wigan is quoted as saying.

Al-Shabab said it expected donor pledges would remain mostly unfulfilled or the money would be lost in corruption.

‘Slush fund’

“It’s a bit like Belgian Waffles: sweet on the outside but really has not much substance to it,” it said on its Twitter account.

Mr Mohamud said at a news conference that aid money had been used to save lives, and provide basic services to Somalis.

 The New Deal would take Somalia from an “emergency to recovery” over the next three years, he said.

“This is a new chapter. Today we are ending a journey and starting a new one,” Mr Mohamud added.

There have been several international conferences to help Somalia rebuild itself, including one hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in May.

The UK and other donors pledged some $130m in aid for Somalia at the time.

Earlier this month, Somalia’s government said international investigators it had appointed had cleared it of corruption allegations made by United Nations monitors.

In July, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia said Somalia’s central bank had become a “slush fund” for political leaders and that the current governor played a central role in irregularities surrounding unaccountable disbursements of cash.

In September, Norway decided to directly pay government employees their salaries in order to curb corruption, UN-backed Somali Radio Bar-Kulan reported at the time.

BRUSSELS  – Somalia’s government and international donors will sign up to a three-year plan on Monday to rebuild the violence-torn country, backed by pledges of new funding that EU officials hope could reach more than one billion euros.

The Brussels conference is aimed at consolidating fragile security gains in Somalia after two decades of civil war and lawlessness triggered by the overthrow of President Siad Barre in 1991.

Nick Westcott, a senior EU diplomat dealing with Africa, said Monday’s conference would be a “milestone in terms of the political reconstruction of Somalia”.

“We are beginning to see after 20 years of conflict Somalia pulling itself together,” he told reporters.

The 28-nation EU is the largest donor to Somalia and helps fund the African Union’s Amisom peacekeeping troops, who have helped drive Islamist al Shabaab rebels out of Mogadishu and many other strongholds in central and southern Somalia.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and international backers will sign up to a “new deal compact” at Monday’s conference, committing them to a series of goals in the areas of inclusive politics, security, justice, economy and services.

International donors are also expected to pledge aid in support of Somalia’s reconstruction.

EU officials would not say how much they expect to be pledged, but one EU source said any figure above one billion euros would be “a significant success”.

About 50 delegations will take part in the meeting, including African countries, the United States, Japan, China and Gulf countries as well as EU states.

Somalia will also on Monday join the Cotonou agreement, the framework for the EU’s relations with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, making it eligible for aid from the European Development Fund.

The EU has previously pledged 1.2 billion euros for Somalia between 2008 and 2013. It has also launched several missions to help Somalia strengthen its security, including a counter-piracy force and a mission to train the Somali military.

Source:Reuters