(Hadalsame) 01 June 2019<\/strong><\/span> – Somalis are victims of domestic terrorism, and the international community is compounding their misery by undermining their livelihoods as part of their own so-called \u2018War on Terror\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Combatants in the so-called War on Terror (WoT) have turned the lives of innocent Somalis into a living hell. Terrorists use civilians as targets, human shields, and sources of revenue.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Western Terror Warriors (TWs) treat them as unavoidable collateral damage or potential terrorist supporters.<\/p>\n

Consequently, communities are caught in the crossfire and their efforts to build livelihoods suffer immensely.<\/p>\n

This is how terrorists and the TWs are undermining Somali livelihoods.<\/p>\n

9\/11 and the destruction of Al Barakat\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The money wiring company, Al Barakat, was formed after the Somali government collapsed in 1991. Diasporic Somalis, who fled the civil war, were anxious to find a way to send money to their desperate families. Within two years, the company had agents in all major Somali population centres in the West as it effectively transmitted millions of dollars to all parts of Somalia.<\/p>\n

But September 11 changed everything. American authorities, shocked by the attackers\u2019 audacity, searched high and low for Al Qaeda\u2019s financiers. Investigators who were already looking into Al Barakat\u2019s unconventional movement of money from the USA to their central office in the UAE intensified their investigations.<\/p>\n

Political pressure from the White House forced investigators to quickly and speciously conclude that Al Barakat was Al Qaeda\u2019s financier and that the founder of the company was Bin Laden\u2019s friend.<\/p>\n

Al Barakat\u2019s offices were raided, its assets frozen, and its founder was put on the no-fly list. Several years later, the\u00a09\/11 Commission<\/a>\u00a0vindicated Al Barakat and stated that its proprietor had no links to Al Qaida. Yet, Al Barakat\u2019s assets are still impounded while its founder remained on the no-fly list until 2016. \u00a0Al Barakat\u2019s unjustified ruin became a model for the way the International Community addresses Somali issues:\u00a0guilty until proven innocent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Misrepresenting the Islamic Courts and Al Shabaab\u2019s Rise<\/strong><\/p>\n

America\u2019s next Somali adventure came in 2006 when the Union of Islamic Courts (UICs) liberated Mogadishu from warlords. Surprised by the warlords\u2019 defeat, America and its Ethiopian ally concocted the assertion that the UICs was Al Qaeda\u2019s affiliate. Ethiopian troops,\u00a0with American blessing<\/a>, invaded Mogadishu and forced the UICs underground.<\/p>\n

However, Somali resistance led by the UICs\u2019 youth wing, Al Shabaab, made the occupation costly.<\/p>\n

Consequently, America engineered the fragmentation of the UICs leadership into \u2018moderates\u2019 and \u2018radicals\u2019.<\/p>\n

The \u2018moderates\u2019 were invited to Mogadishu with its leaders ending up as Somalia\u2019s President. Meanwhile, the USA listed Al Shabaab as a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n

Demonising the hawalas\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Subsequently, the US Treasury\u00a0almost<\/em>\u00a0crippled Somali-Americans\u2019 ability to remit money to Somalia. Diasporic Somalis transfer $1.5 billion through Somali money-wiring companies (Hawalas) that developed after Al Barakat\u2019s demise. Hawalas registered in the USA deposit clients\u2019 money in American banks, which are then wired to the UAE from where it is transferred to customers in Somalia.<\/p>\n

As the WoT escalated, the US Treasury tightened the screws on hawalas by warning American banks of the risks involved since the identities of the recipients could not be verified. Frightened by the counsel, all but one the few\u00a0American Banks<\/a>\u00a0that had hawala clients withdrew their service. Consequently, many Hawalas have been forced to carry suitcases of cash from the United States to the UAE. This practice continues with all the attendant risks and despite the lack of evidence linking hawalas to terrorism.<\/p>\n

Subverting emerging companies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Efforts to undermine Somali livelihoods are not limited to overseas money transfers but have also targeted domestic enterprises. A leading actor in this effort is the United Nation\u2019s Monitoring Group for Somalia and Eritrea (SEMG). This agency has consistently produced reports peppered with unsubstantiated claims that have damaged the credibility of Somali individuals and organisations.<\/p>\n

For instance, SEMG falsely reported in\u00a02006<\/a>\u00a0that the Islamic Courts Union sent hundreds of their militias to Lebanon to assist Hezbollah.<\/p>\n