Somalia and money transfer

The Somali foreign minister Youssef Hassan Ibrahim has proposed that an American Bank will assume the operations of al-Barakat financial foundation which was closed by the US despite the fact that the Somalis who were working outside are in need to transfer money into their country.

The Somali ambassador to the UN Ahmad Aid Hashi said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the Somali foreign minister asked in a closed door meeting for the UN Security Council that Washington will assign a bank to run operations so as to enable the American treasury department to supervise these operations.

Al-Hashi said that the aim is to draw a system that cancels the freeze on thousands of bank accounts for individuals who have no links to al-Qaida, noting that this proposal was not officially submitted to the US but the foreign minister will try to meet with the American officials to discuss this matter officially.

Worthy mentioning that the US President George Bush froze in November 2001 the assets of al-Barakat company and cut telecommunications with it via satellites under the pretext that it supports a network of transferring sums to terrorists.