Closing al-barakat halved Somali remittances and drove business out of Mogadishu
Evidence
The most tangible and devastating consequence was the action taken by the U.S. government in closing down the offices and Internet communication service of the Dubai-based Somali remittance bank al-barakat, suspected of collecting funds for Islamic terrorist organizations although this was vehemently denied by its directors. Fortunately for Somalilanders, their older banking service, dahabshil, which also operated in the south, was exempt from this cavalier American action (although briefly banned in Ethiopia). Remittances in the south immediately dropped by 50 per cent and there were reports of businessmen in their droves quitting Mogadishu and transferring their activities elsewhere. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 700
Categorization
- SEED: Angle: how a US counterterrorism decision, aimed thousands of miles away, produced a concrete economic shock measured in the collapse of a vital remittance economy.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 700
- XREF: connects to: Somali diaspora remittances exceeded $800 million yearly and funded factional warfare — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 690
Broader Connections
- Somali diaspora remittances exceeded $800 million yearly and funded factional warfare
#expands(0.70) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 690