Even though the move is allegedly to disrupt the finding of
Al Qaeda related groups in Somalia, but is the latest Barclays anti-terror move
just a bit too draconian for a majority of ordinary Somali citizens?
By: Ringo Bones
This could probably be the very first precedent of
“non-fatal collateral casualties” in the on-going war on terror. Given
Barclay’s “altruism” of doing their part of disrupting the day-to-day
operations of Al Qaeda related groups – like the recent Al Shabaab attack on
the Westgate Mall in Kenya back in September 21, 2013- wherever they may be,
should the local innocent civilians have to suffer the consequences?
With the recent decision of Barclays to end its deal with
remittances companies in Somalia citing that they are just a financial front
for Al Qaeda related terror groups, 3 Somali remittance firms have launched a
legal action against Barclays over their rather draconian measure to disrupt
terror groups in Somalia. Barclays claims that the remittances are used to fund
Somalia based terror groups with sympathies to Al Qaeda that are currently
launching terror attacks throughout Africa – which the latest high profile
attack is the Kenyan Westgate shopping mall hostage taking and shooting incident by Al Shabaab operatives back in September
21.
Somalia gets 60 percent of its foreign currency flow via
remittances and the truth of which is that this “lifeline” service is primarily
used to fund local small to medium business being run by ordinary Somalis with
nothing to do with Al Qaeda whatsoever. Given that most of Somalia has just
reached a state of normalcy after two decades of armed anarchy, is Barclay’s
recent decision to end its remittance deal with Somalia for all intents and
purposes just punishing the wrong group of people?
2 comments:
Most recipients of remittances in Somalia are women conflict widows in their 40s who need the money as capital for their fried plantain retail business - not the Al Qaeda affiliated Somali Islamist terror group Al Shabaab.
I do agree, Somali conflict widows in their 40s using remittance money sent by their relatives who earn a living by cleaning public toilets in London to use as small business capital have nothing to do with the Islamist terror group Al-Shabaab. Barclays should rather freeze the assets of the US Republican Party who are currently launching the biggest terror attack on American soil since September 11, 2001.
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