•^Somalis Lose Cash Lifeline Page 1 of 3

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Freeway Watch Somalis Lose Cash Lifeline

Check your commute By DAVAN MAHARAJ, Times Staff Writer
MARKETPLACE Photo G
classifieds and mars MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia is a country that operates on small
find a job handouts: $50 from a son in San Diego to his mother; $100 from a
post a job
nephew in Dubai to an uncle; $200 from a daughter in Dallas to her
find a car
sell a car mother caring for eight other children.
find a home
HOM ES sell & home These small sums are sent through Mogadishu-based Al Barakaat and
find an apt. companies like it, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
list an apt. Prison Re

VALENTINE The money sustains More Pho

GIFTS ACTIVmrSUIDE much of the country,
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and Al Barakaat has
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calendarive.c0m. used the cash flow to U.S. attac
Art, Theater, Night Life become something Taliban?
Movies, Music, TV, Dining
akin to a
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conglomerate in
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Somalia. It operates
MW BUCJ cell phone
companies and a
private postal
and the fir
its afterm;
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Jan.
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service and has been April

planning to open a Times I

CLICK HERE OR CAtL Pepsi bottling plant, Kerry Rolls

the first here since Clark Quits
ADVERTISEMENT 1990. President's
Released
Al Barakaat's funds were frozen Wednesday by President Bush, along Report Fin
with those of 61 other organizations and individuals. The company Bullet Anal
plays such a central role in Somali life that people here fear that Regulation
The Nation closing the operation could trigger starvation on the order of the famine Nightlife or
News
Iraq Aftermath
a decade ago that killed thousands of people. Iraq, Afghs
Dry Up
The World "This will recall what happened in 1992," Al Barakaat Deputy General
The Nation Manager Abas Adbi Ali said in an interview Wednesday, just before
California / Local
Business
officials in Washington released their latest list of organizations and SUBSCRIBE
individuals suspected of financial links to terrorists. "A whole lot of Los Angela:
Politics
click here
Sports people would lose their lives."
Travel
Editorials, Op-Ed QARCI
Sections A name matching Ali's is on the new U.S. document.
Arts & Entertainment Click any r,
Books bstow to at
abstracted
Chess The naming of Al Barakaat and several Somali nationals could add to

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-110801 dish, 1,6997593 .story 2/11/2004

AfricaOnline.com - UN moves to save Al Barakaat Page 1 of4

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home
sports-*
UN moves to save Al Barakaat CHANGE LANGUAGE
entertainment-*
English Site | French Sit
business * By Dennis Onyango
travel-* Somalia, April 29 2002 TOP STORIES
internet-*
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Namibia: Don't take the
education-* Mugabe route
Somalia Office is launching a programme to
NGOs*
formalise and legalise Somalia's largest money
arts & culture-* New maize helps create
transfer system, Al Barakaat, five months after the self-sustainable farms
health* US shut it down on suspicion of being linked to
women-* Osama bin Laden. Uganda: Row over
HIV/AIDS success ston
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Afraid that the closure of Al Barakaat - which is also
kids zone-* Burundi; Families flee
the country's largest private sector employer - may
life* rebels
cause a new humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged
science and technology* country, UNDP plans to work with foreign
Johannesburg summit
news-* governments and Somalia's remaining money opens
transfer and remittance companies "to ensure that
shopping-*
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africa online customer^ Ms Sonya Lawrence Green, an information officer at A gem of an idea
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UNDP Somalia, said the UN agency will provide
technical support to remittance companies, currently Zimbabwe to tighten \a\g white farm
e-touch* only two, to comply with standard financial rules and
about Africa Online* regulations and help the firms institute standard Africa: Washing away
discussions-* book keeping, auditing and reporting. The agency disease?
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help* Task Force" to combat money laundering. CAR; Capital punishmer
for those behind coup?
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The US labelled Al Barakaat "the quartermasters of

terror," when they put it out of business, but now Algeria; More killed
some US officials are reported to acknowledge that
the evidence of Al Barakaat's backing for terrorism is Swaziland; Masuku

http://www.africaonline.com/site/Articles/l,3,47323.jsp 2/11/2004
[Imc-nigeria] Fwd: [WTOactivists] Attacks on Somali Community/USA Page 1 of 2

[Imc-nigeria] Fwd: [WTOactivists] Attacks on

Somali Community/USA
marshall law blackngrin at hotmail.com
Tue Jan 8 21:17:01 2002

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> Two Months after Raids, No Release of Frozen Somali Assets

> >Minneapolis, Minnesota
> >Sunday, January 6th, 2001
> >
> >
> >Almost two months after the initial raids on several Somali hawalas
> (money
> >transfer businesses) in Minneapolis, the Somali Justice Advocacy Center
> >called a vigil in front of one of the closed money wiring services on the
> >West Bank, to bring attention to the continued suffering of the Somali
> >community.
> >
> >Omar Jamal, executive Director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center,
> >opened the vigil by highlighting the fact that most of the Somali
> fami lies
> >who are being affected are still dependent on the hawala network to get
> >their hard-earned money to their loved ones, many of who survive off of
> >these funds in the refugee camps in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
> >
> >Contrary to U.S. Justice Department claims that there are other ways for
> >the Somali Community in Minneapolis to transfer this money, nearly two
> >months of frozen assets has according to Omar Jamal, "threatened the very
> >economy of Somalia itself." While the U.S. Justice Department claims
>that
> >the aim is to disable the "terrorist connections" to these money transfer
> >businesses, the real victims of this economic policy by the Bush
> >Administration are in fact those already suffering in the refugee camps

> >the horn of Africa, and their families in the U.S. who fear for their
> > families' survival.
> >
> >The crowd asked Omar Jamal questions of how they can help the Somali
> > community. "Contact Senator Mark Dayton's and Senator Paul Wellstone's
> >offices, and ask them to pressure the Bush Administration to release
> these
> > frozen funds", Omar Jamal said. Mr. Omar urged the crowd to call their
> >elected officials, and let them know that this is a land of laws, that it
> >doesn't matter who is in the Oval Office, that it is the constitution
>that
> >is most important. That everyone's human rights must be respected and
> >upheld.
> >
> >Jamal Omar also brought to light that new regulations are being enacted

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-nigeria/2002-January/000031 .html 2/17/2004

somalia (10/03) Pagel of 10

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U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

About the Press and [Traveland ••Countries • |international• l|Htstory.Education!
State Dept. ' ' and Regions 11 Issues U Band Culture

Bureau of African Affairs

October 2003

Geography
Background Note: Somalia
People
PROFILE
History
OFFICIAL NAME (Former):
Somali Democratic Republic
Government
NOTE: Somalia has been without a central government since 1991, and much of
the territory has been subject to serious civil strife. There is no official U.S.
Political Conditions:
representation in Somalia. Statistical data on Somalia in this report date from
2002 and are subject to dispute and error.
Economy
Geography
Defense Area: 637,657 sq. km.; slightly smaller than Texas.
Cities: Cap/te/--Mogadishu. Other c/ftes-Hargeisa, Kismayo, Bosasso, Baidoa.
Terrain: Mostly flat to undulating plateau rising to hills in the north.
Foreign Relations Climate: Principally desert; December to February-northeast monsoon, moderate
temperatures in north, and very hot in the south; May to October-southwest
monsoon, torrid in the north, and hot in the south; irregular rainfall; hot and humid
U.S. Relations periods (tangambili) between monsoons.

Travel/Business People
Nationality: A/oun~Somali(s). /Wyecf/Ve-Somali.
Population (July 2001 est., no census exists): 7,488,773 (of which an estimated 2-
Background Notes A-Z 3 million in Somaliland).
Annual growth rate (2001 est.): 3.48%.
Ethnic groups: 85% Somali, 15% non-Somali (Bantu and Arabs).
Religion: 99.9% Muslim.
Languages: Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English.
Education: L/teracy-total population that can read and write, 24%: male 36%;
female 14%.
Health: Infant mortality rate-123.97/1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth--
total population: 46.6yrs.
Work force (3.7 million; very few are skilled workers): Pastoral nomad~6Q%.
Agriculture, government, trading, fishing, industry, handicrafts, and other--40%.

Government
Type: None.
Independence: July 1,1960 (from a merger of the former Somaliland Protectorate
under British rule, which became independent from the UK on June 26, 1960, and
Italian Somaliland, which became independent from the Italian-administered UN
trusteeship on July 1,1960 to form the Somali Republic).
Constitution: None in force. Note: The Transitional National Government created
in August 2000 was formed to create a new constitution and hold elections within
3 years.

http://www.state.gOV/r/pa/ei/bgn/2863.httn 2/11/2004
' Somalia on the precipice Page 1 of2

From Africa Recovery, Vol. 15#4 (December 2001), Watch page

Somalia on the precipice

Somalia is a "forgotten emergency," says UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Randolph Kent.
In 2001, donors contributed barely a fifth of needed emergency assistance. UN agencies acknowledge
that although the humanitarian situation will worsen in 2002, their overall request for relief aid has been
scaled back from $130 mn to $83.7 mn, "in recognition that the political environment is not yet
conducive for a significant injection of transitional and recovery funding," notes a press release:from
Mr. Kent's office.

Somalia's current tragedy has in fact been worsened by the political fallout
of the Afghanistan crisis. The US government has maintained that
companies involved in transferring remittances to Somalia from Somalis
living abroad may have links to "terror networks," and has sought to shut
them down. Such remittances may have brought in between $500 mn and
$700 mn a year, a sum which has now been cut in half.

Mr. Kent, at a briefing at UN headquarters in New York, noted that this

hardship has come on top of several others: a serious drought that has left
nearly 800,000 Somalis in desperate need of food relief, the onset of
hyper-inflation over the past year, and a ban on livestock exports to Saudi
Arabia and other Gulf states because of fear of infection from Rift Valley
Fever, cutting off another $300-400 mn in export earnings.

Photo: ©UNHCR / E.Dagnino

Previously, Somalia had been slowly recovering from a decade of civil war, with the establishment of a
fragile transitional government in Mogadishu and clear signs of economic recovery, financed largely by
remittances and investments by Somalis in the diaspora. Now, however, because of its combined
difficulties, "Somalia is on the precipice of potential and total economic collapse," Mr. Kent
emphasized. Even though UN officials in Somalia have not so far detected any significant signs of
"radicalism," such a collapse could provide conditions in which it may emerge.

In addition to urging donors to respond favourably to the UN's emergency aid appeal, Mr. Kent
recommended relatively simple and inexpensive steps to strengthen Somali banking institutions, in order
to improve transparency and the ability to monitor cash transfers. The resumption of remittances could
go a long way toward helping many Somalis survive.

[Backto index] [To Volumel5#4 - full graphics]

This article may be freely reproduced, with attribution to "Africa Recovery, United Nations".
Permission to use photographs must be obtained from the copyright holder, as credited.
We would appreciate receiving a copy of any article reproduced.

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/subjindx/154somal.htm 3/26/2004
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Copyright 2004 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
Associated Press Worldstream

These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press

January 7, 2004 Wednesday

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

DISTRIBUTION: Europe; Britian; Scandinavia; Middle East; Africa; India; Asia; England

LENGTH: 374 words

HEADLINE: Italian prosecutor says no basis for terrorism charges in probe of alleged Somali financing
link to al-Qaida

DATELINE: ROME

BODY:
A Florence prosecutor has asked that terrorism charges be dropped in a probe of a Somali financing
channel, saying U.S. anti-terrorism investigators have concluded there is no proof that it funneled money
to the al-Qaida terrorist network, Italian news reports said Wednesday.

Since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Prosecutor Francesco Fleury has been investigating
organizations, including money-wiring outfits sending Somali immigrants' money home, suspected of
funneling funds to Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization.

The ANS A news agency reported from Florence that Fleury has formally asked judges to drop terrorism
charges against 15 suspects, saying that information obtained from U.S. anti-terrorism agencies say no
proof has been found that the Al-Barakaat financing network channeled funds to al-Qaida.

In the weeks following Sept. 11, Italian police seized documents and other material in offices that handle
immigrants' remittances to Somalia and several other countries.

There was no answer at Fleury's office Wednesday afternoon.

Sigfrido Fenyes, a lawyer for one of the suspects in the case, said he hadn't yet seen Fleury's official
recommendation but that in September he received official judicial notice that terrorism charges were
being dropped partly because of information received from U.S. authorities.

His client, Hussein Mahamud Abdullkadir, a Somali physician living in Florence, is still under
investigation on charges that he sent money to Somalia by illicit methods rather through legal banking
channels.

ANSA said Fleury had asked judges to order the suspects to stand trial on charges of criminal
association for illegal banking activities.

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 3/26/2004
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Section 1 of 1

Somalia
SOMALIA'S DIFFICULT DECADE, 1980-90

Entrenching Siad Barre's Personal Rule

The Ogaden War of 1977'-78 between Somalia and Ethiopia and the consequent refugee influx forced
Somalia to depend for its economic survival on humanitarian handouts (see The Qgaden War;
Performance and Implications of Defeat, ch. 5). Domestically, the lost war produced a national mood of
depression. Organized opposition groups began to emerge, and in dealing with them Siad Barre
intensified his political repression, using jailings, torture, and summary executions of dissidents and
collective punishment of clans thought to have engaged in organized resistance.

Siad Barre's new Western friends, especially the United States, which had replaced the Soviet Union as
the main user of the naval facilities at Berbera, turned out to be reluctant allies. Although prepared to
help the Siad Barre regime economically through direct grants, World Bank (see Glossary)-sponsored
loans, and relaxed International Monetary Fund (IMF—see Glossary) regulations, the United States
hesitated to offer Somalia more military aid than was essential to maintain internal security. The amount
of United States military and economic aid to the regime was US$34 million in 1984; by 1987 this
amount had dwindled to about US$8.7 million, a fraction of the regime's requested allocation of US$47
million (see Foreign Military Assistance, ch. 5). Western countries were also pressuring the regime to
liberalize economic and political life and to renounce historical Somali claims on territory in Kenya and
Ethiopia. In response, Siad Barre held parliamentary elections in December 1979. A "people's
parliament" was elected, all of whose members belonged to the government party, the SRSP. Following
the elections, Siad Barre again reshuffled the cabinet, abolishing the positions of his three vice
presidents. This action was followed by another reshuffling in October 1980 in which the old Supreme
Revolutionary Council was revived. The move resulted in three parallel and overlapping bureaucratic
structures within one administration: the party's politburo, which exercised executive powers through its
Central Committee, the Council of Minsters, and the SRC. The resulting confusion of functions within
the administration left decision making solely in Siad Barre's hands.

In February 1982, Siad Barre visited the United States. He had responded to growing domestic criticism
by releasing from detention two leading political prisoners of conscience, former premier Igaal and
former police commander Abshir, both of whom had languished in prison since 1969. On June 7, 1982,

http://lcweb2.1oc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+so0038) 2/11/2004
LEXIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page Page 1 of 4

Lexis Nexis
Copyright 2001 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MM)

November 8, 2001, Thursday, Metro Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 1465 words

HEADLINE: Terror probe turns to Minneapolis;

5 metro money-transfer firms closed in worldwide crackdown

BYLINE: Greg Gordon; Joy Powell; Staff Writers

BODY:
RSEC: Federal agents raided and blocked the accounts of five Minneapolis money-transfer
operations Wednesday as part of a worldwide effort to cut off financing for Osama bin Laden's terrorist
network.

President Bush said the Treasury Department froze the assets of 62 organizations and individuals
connected to two global financial operations. He pointed to "solid and credible evidence" of their ties to
Bin Laden.

"The entry point for these networks may be a small storefront operation," Bush said. "But follow the
network to its center, and you discover wealthy banks and sophisticated technology, all at the service of
mass murderers. By shutting these networks down, we disrupt their murderous work."

One of the organizations targeted was Al-Barakaat, which channels money to Somalia and has its
biggest U.S. presence in Minneapolis. Investigators sealed Al-Barakaat offices in three other U.S. cities
and made one arrest.

Wednesday's action brought to 150 the number of individuals and organizations alleged to be financial
supporters of terrorism. About $43 million in assets has been frozen in the United States and abroad in
recent weeks.

The latest organizations to be targeted are:

- Al-Barakaat, a money-transfer network with operations in 40 countries. Treasury Department

officials said they have evidence that the firm has skimmed a percentage of the money-transfer fees
charged to customers and channeled it to Bin Laden's Al-Qaida terrorist organization.

- Al-Taqwa, a network of companies in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Bahamas and Italy that
Treasury officials said has served as a cash-transfer mechanism and investment manager for Al-Qaida.
Treasury officials said it is controlled by Youssef Nada, a Tunisian.

An additional 962 accounts are being reviewed, said Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

Twin Cities Somalis, estimated to comprise half of the nation's 100,000 resettled refugees from the

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 10/31703
CNN.com - Somalis shocked by UN report of al Qaeda activity - Nov. 6, 2003 Page 1 of 3

TAKF fW
MRVfYSt

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Somalis shocked by UN report of al Qaeda

activity
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) -Shocked by a U.N. report that their country hosted al Qaeda fighters,
Somalis said on Thursday they feared the findings might disrupt international attempts to heal more than a
decade of anarchy.

The report said al Qaeda fighters trained and armed in Somalia organised a suicide attack on an
Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya a year ago and a botched attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner
taking off nearby.

At least four al Qaeda suspects remain in Somalia, where additional weapons may have been
imported for the purpose of carrying out further attacks in east Africa, according to a draft of the
report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

Somalis, long weary of the fighting between rival warlords, said they feared the report's revelations
of suspected activity by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's followers would undermine efforts to
reverse the country's long collapse.

"Before, I thought there was only a little such activity going on, but this huge activity in our country
is a danger to our innocent people," said Said Duale, manager of the Wireless African
Communication Company. "This kind of activity will prevent Somalia getting back to towards law
and order."

Some Somali faction leaders have pointed to the danger of militant activity as a reason for increased
international efforts to restore central authority.

Rival warlords have carved Somalia into a patchwork of fiefdoms since the overthrow of former
military ruler Siad Barre in 1991, defying 14 peace initiatives aimed at piecing the country of seven
million back together.

The latest attempt to unify Somalia's divisions has run into problems in Kenya in recent weeks, with
the withdrawal of key faction leaders after more than a year of negotiations.

Exploiting Somalia

The United States has warned that al Qaeda fighters seeking a new refuge after being chased out of

http://cnn.worldnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=ll%2F20%2F... 11/10/2003
CNN.com - AP: Americans seek warlords' help in hunt for terrorists in Somalia - Nov. 6,... Page 1 of 3

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terrorists in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) —In lawless Mogadishu, where U.S. officials fear al-Qaida members are
plotting their next attack, the word is out: catch a terrorist, collect rewards as high as $5 million.

At least four al-Qaida terrorist suspects are in Somalia, Kenyan officials and U.N. experts say, and
Americans are trying to capture them in a country that has been without an effective central
government for more than a decade, officials and gunmen told The Associated Press.

U.S. agents are working through proxies and have recruited a network of informants who keep an eye
out for suspected terrorists, according to a Western security official and several prominent Somalis,
all speaking on condition of anonymity.

So far, those efforts are known to have netted at least one al-Qaida suspect — Suleiman Abdalla
Salim Hemed, who's accused of playing a role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa ~ but
rumors abound of gunmen kidnapping Arabs and turning them over to U.S. agents.

A Somali warlord, Mohammed Dheere, coordinated the March capture of Hemed at the behest of
U.S. officials, gunmen familiar with the operation told AP, speaking privately for fear of reprisals.
Most Somalis believe Dheere was generously rewarded.

Kenya's national security minister, Chris Murungaru, claimed credit for Hemed's capture and said he
was turned over to U.S. authorities, who have refused to comment.

But the gunmen said U.S. agents regularly visit Dheere at his Mogadishu home and an AP reporter
saw two of the alleged agents, dressed in regular clothing, moving through Mogadishu using a team
of bodyguards belonging to Bashir Rageh, a wealthy businessman closely associated with Dheere.

After Hemed's capture, Dheere questioned Hemed's friends for hours, asking about other suspected
terrorists. When shown photos from the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists Web site, Hemed's friends said
Dheere used the same photos when he questioned them. They said they didn't recognize any of the
men in the photos.

One of the most-wanted al-Qaida suspects, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, is thought to be hiding in
Somalia, a senior Kenyan security official told AP on Wednesday.

http://cnn.worldnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=12%2F06%2F... 11/10/2003
.EXIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page Page 1 of 3

LexisNexis
Copyright 2000 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

November 19, 2000, Sunday, Metro Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3A

LENGTH: 1079 words

HEADLINE: THE MONEY FLOW;

Money-transfer businesses answer a need, owners say

BYLINE: Joy Powell; Dee DePass; Staff Writers

BODY:
Five years ago, Garad Nor worried about getting money from Minnesota to his mother in Kenya, where
she lived in a refugee camp for Somalis who had fled civil war.

Nor worked at a food-processing plant in Marshall. When his mother and other relatives called and
asked for money, he mailed a money order to a Canadian friend, who routed the money to East Africa.

It took at least five days, but Nor's money eventually reached his mother at the camp and his other
relatives in Somalia, where the central government and banking system had collapsed in 1991.

Nor said he figured there had to be a faster, more reliable way to get money to his relatives. So he
became a pioneer in the Somali money-transfer business, first in Marshall, where he operated out of his
apartment. Later, he moved to Minneapolis to manage the local office of a money-transfer company
with offices around the world.

Minnesota now has at least eight Somali-run money-transfer businesses that help immigrants wire
millions of dollars to Somalis in East Africa. Seven of the businesses are in Minneapolis.

The flow of money has drawn the attention of law enforcement officials, who are investigating
whether some of the money was used to fund the Somali civil war and possibly terrorism. Nor and other
managers of the transfer companies said they wouldn't knowingly handle money bound for warlords or
militias and have no idea how money raised here reaches militias.

The reason for the money-transfer businesses, Nor said, is to help people.

In the beginning, he said, he collected $3,000 from his co-workers at Heartland Foods and had it
wired to East Africa by Norwest Bank, which is now Wells Fargo & Co. He worked with merchants in
Kenya who helped deliver the money within hours, he said. Other Somali money-transfer businesses
operate much the same way.

Early on, Nor learned that the U.S. government was scrutinizing his activities. Six months after he
started the business, IRS agents showed up at the apartment he shared with his wife and baby, he said.
They asked Nor where he got the money.

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 10/31/03
!EXIS®-NEXIS® View Printable Page Page 1 of 3

LexisNexis
Copyright 2002 Star Tribune
Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

August 28, 2002, Wednesday, Metro Edition

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. IB

LENGTH: 756 words

HEADLINE: Lifting of sanctions brings relief;

The Somali-born owners of two money-wiring firms have their names cleared.

BYLINE: Kavita Kumar; Staff Writer

BODY:
Garad Nor was in the United Arab Emirates when he saw his name on CNN among those of 62
individuals and organizations that the U.S. government said helped finance Osama bin Laden's terrorist
network.

The Minneapolis resident said he was frightened but knew he had to return to his adopted country to
clear his name.

Nor had proclaimed his innocence for more than nine months, and Tuesday his money-wiring firm,
Aaran Money Wire Service Inc., was taken off the U.N. sanctions list of entities believed to be linked to
terrorism.

So was Global Service International Inc., the Minneapolis firm owned by Abdullahi Farah.

The U.S. Treasury Department unfroze their assets, including about $500,000 in personal and
business bank accounts, most of which belongs to and will be returned to their clients.

"I am glad," Nor said.

"I love this country," he said Tuesday as he sat next to his 7-year-old daughter, Ayan. "That's why I
came here _ to get a job and raise my family.... The system worked," said Nor who is also known as
Garad Jama.

But he and Farah, both Somali-born and naturalized U.S. citizens, have not received an apology or an
acknowledgment of wrongdoing from the U.S. government, said John Lundquist, their attorney.

Although Farah and Nor said they are not sure they want an apology, Omar Jamal, executive director
of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, was more definitive.

"I think the government ought to apologize. I personally experienced the fear they caused," he said,
referring to panic and concern among Somalis in the Twin Cities after raids on the businesses, known as
hawalas, which they use to wire money to impoverished relatives in the Horn of Africa.

But Farah said: "We don't have any government anger because we know what happened on

https://www.nexis.com/research/search/submitViewTagged 10/31 /03

PO-885: Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill Remarks On New Terrorist Financing Designati... Page 1 of 1

PRESS ROOM

FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

December 20, 2001

PO-885

TREASURY SECRETARY PAUL O'NEILL

REMARKS ON NEW TERRORIST FINANCING DESIGNATIONS

Today, we are blocking the assets of a terrorist organization, UTN, and three of its
directors, because they finance terrorism. But they don't threaten freedom with only
their money. UTN and its directors provided more than money to al Qaida, they
provided knowledge of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

UTN's founder was the former chief designer and director of an atomic reactor in
Pakistan. He was joined in UTN by a number of other prominent Pakistani
scientists, retired military officers, and industrialists. On a number of occasions,
UTN delegations traveled to Afghanistan, where UTN directors met with Usama bin
Laden and al-Qaida leaders and discussed nuclear, chemical, and biological
weapons. Even after September 11th, UTN representatives sought to provide bin
Laden and Taliban with still more devastating weapons of mass destruction.

By blocking their assets today, we aren't just freezing the money in their bank
accounts. More importantly than what we catch in their accounts, we disrupt the
pipelines they use to move money and to communicate. For example, last month,
we blocked the assets of the Holy Land Foundation, because they raise money for
the Hamas terrorist organization. Holy Land raised $13 million in the United States
last year.

We also closed down the U.S. and overseas operations of a major financial network
- al-Barakaat, from which al Qaida terrorists profited. We estimate that $25 million
was skimmed from the Barakaat network of companies each year, and re-directed
toward terrorist operations.

We are putting the world on alert that these terrorists must not have access to
finances anywhere. And allies around the world are eagerly joining our effort.

For example, Canada has blocked the assets of ail terrorists listed by the U.S. and
UN, and has led G-20 efforts to adopt an action plan to combat terrorist financing.
The United Arab Emirates took coordinated action with U.S. against Al-Barakaat,
raiding offices in the UAE and blocking their assets.

Day by day and week by week we are building a wall between global terrorists and
the world financial system they rely on. This is a long fight. We will work with our
allies everywhere, keeping after this effort until there is no place on earth where
terrorists can hide their money.

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/po885.htm?SEARCH.X=39\&SEARCH.Y=10 12/23/2003
PO-770: Secretary O'Neill - Statement on Executive Order on Terrorist Financing Page 1 of 2

PRESSROOM

FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

November?, 2001
PO-770

STATEMENT BY TREASURY SECRETARY PAUL O'NEILL

The President signed the Executive Order on Terrorist Financing on September 23.
His instruction to the Treasury Department was straight-forward: chair a committee
of ail agencies with potential information about terrorist financing; then take that
shared intelligence and make it actionable. That is something new in Washington
and I am here to tell you that it is working.

This morning, agents from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control, the
Customs Service, and the IRS shut down 8 al Barakaat offices in the United States,
and took possession of evidence that will be investigated for further leads in the
terrorist money trail. In addition, we used authority in the newly-enacted anti-
terrorism legislation to block assets and seize evidence at two al Barakaat outlets in
Virginia. Millions of dollars have moved through these US offices of al Barakaat.
This organization is now exposed for what it is - a pariah in the civilized world. US
businesses and individuals are now forewarned, and prohibited from doing
business with this company.

Since the issuance of the Executive Order, the United Slates and our coalition
partners have issued blocking order on the assets and trade of 88 individuals and
organizations who support terrorism. Today we add sixty-two (62) names to that list.
But more important than the number is the character of today's designees,

Al Taqwa and al-Barakaat are financiers of terror. The President's September 23

Order made plain that those who underwrite violence bear equal culpability to those
who perpetrate it. Feigned indifference, willful blindness, and the appearance of
normalcy and status in the world of business or commerce will no longer provide
cover or safe harbor -here or abroad.

The al Taqwa group has long acted as financial advisers to al Qaeda, with offices in
Switzerland, Lichenstein, Italy and the Caribbean. The al Barakaat companies are
the money movers, the quartermasters of terror. At core, it is a hawala
conglomerate operating in 40 countries around the world with business ventures in
telecommunications, construction, and currency exchange. They are a principal
source of funding, intelligence and money transfers for bin Laden.

And they operate office even here in the US. At least they did until today.

Our allies around the world are joining us in cutting al Barakaat and al Taqwa out of
the world financial system. Dubai, UAE is the home base of al Barakaat. Today the
UAE blocked the accounts of al Barakaat, paralyzing the nerve center of the
operation.

And that is only one example of the nations around the world who have eagerly
joined this effort to separate terrorists from the world financial system. To date, 112
nations have blocking orders in force on the names we'd previously added to this
list. Together, the civilized governments of the world have already blocked more
than $43 million in terrorist assets.

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/po770.htm 12/24/2003
 esident Announces Crackdown on Terrorist Financial Network Page 1 of 2

Click to Print
this
President George W. Bush

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary
November 7, 2001

President Announces Crackdown on Terrorist Financial Network

Remarks by the President In Announcement on Financial Aspects of Terrorism
Financial Crime Enforcement Network
Vienna, Virginia

§ Fact Sheet

1:52 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: The United States is pressing the war against terror on every front. From the mountains of
Afghanistan to the bank accounts of terrorist organizations. The first strike in the war against terror targeted the
terrorists' financial support. We put the world's financial institutions on notice: if you do business with terrorists, if
you support them or sponsor them, you will not do business with the United States of America.

Today, we are taking another step in our fight against evil. We are setting down two major elements of the
terrorists international financial network, both at home and abroad. Ours is not a war just of soldiers and
aircraft. It's a war fought with diplomacy, by the investigations of law enforcement, by gathering intelligence and
by cutting off the terrorists' money.

I want to thank Secretary Paul O'Neill for being here today and for being the leader of this fine organization. I
want to thank the Director, Jim Sloan, as well. You're doing some imaginative work here at the Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network, and I want to thank all the fine Americans who are on the front line of our war, the people
who work here.

I want to thank Secretary Colin Powell for being here, as well. He's doing a magnificent job of stitching together
one of the greatest coalitions ever - a coalition of nations that stands for freedom. And I want to thank our
Attorney General for coming -- the man whose job it is to make sure that any time we find anybody inside our
country who will threaten an American, threaten our institutions, they will be brought to justice. And that's exactly
what our nation is doing.

Acting on solid and credible evidence, the Treasury Department of the United States today blocked the U.S.
assets of 62 individuals and organizations connected with two terror-supporting financial networks - the Al Taqua
and the Al Barakaat. Their offices have been shut down in four U.S. states. And our G8 partners and other
friends, including the United Arab Emirates, have joined us in blocking assets and coordinating enforcement
action.

Al Taqua is an association of offshore banks and financial management firms that have helped al Qaeda shift
money around the world. Al Barakaat is a group of money wiring and communication companies owned by a
friend and supporter of Osama bin Laden. Al Taqua and Al Barakaat raise funds for al Qaeda; they manage,
invest and distribute those funds. They provide terrorist supporters with Internet service, secure telephone
communications and other ways of sending messages and sharing information. They even arrange for the
shipment of weapons.

They present themselves as legitimate businesses. But they skim money from every transaction, for the benefit
of terrorist organizations. They enable the proceeds of crime in one country to be transferred to pay for terrorist
acts in another.

The entry point for these networks may be a small storefront operation -- but follow the network to its center and
you discover wealthy banks and sophisticated technology, all at the service of mass murderers. By shutting these
networks down, we disrupt the murderers' work. Today's action interrupts al Qaeda's communications; it blocks

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/! l/print/20011107-4.html 12/24/2003

TERRORIST FINANCES
"We put the world's financial institutions on notice: if you do business with
terrorists, if you support them or sponsor them, you will not do business with the United
States of America."

-President George W. Bush, 11/7/01

Terrorists need money to carry out their evil deeds. The President's first strike in the war
against terror was not with a gun or a missile - the President's first strike was with his pen as he
took action to freeze terrorist finances and disrupt their pipelines for raising and moving money
in the future.

The world's financial institutions have been put on notice - if you support, sponsor, or do
business with terrorists, you will not do business with the United States. Denying terrorists
access to funds is a very real success in the war on terrorism. Since September 11, the United
States and its allies in the war on terrorism have been winning the war on the financial front:

* President Bush launched the first offensive in the war on terrorism on September 23 by
signing an Executive Order freezing the U.S.-based assets of those individuals and
organizations involved with terrorism.

* 196 countries and jurisdictions have expressed their support for the financial war on terror.

* 142 countries have issued orders freezing terrorist assets, and others have requested U.S.
help in improving their legal and regulatory systems so they can more effectively block
terrorist funds.

* The assets of at least 153 known terrorists, terrorist organizations, and terrorist financial
centers have now been frozen in the U.S. financial system.

* Since September 11, the U.S. has blocked more than $33 million in assets of terrorist
organizations. Other nations have also blocked another $33 million.

* On November 7, the U.S. and its allies closed down operations of two major financial
networks - al-Barakaat and al-Taqwa - both of which were used by al-Qaeda and Osama
Bin Laden as sources of income and mechanisms to transfer funds.

* On December 4, President Bush froze the assets of a U.S.-based foundation - The Holy
Land Foundation for Relief and Development - that has been funneling money to the
terrorist organization Hamas.

* The U.S. government created three new organizations - the Foreign Terrorist Asset
Tracking Center (FTAT), Operation Green Quest and the Terrorist Financing Task Force.
These new organizations will help facilitate information sharing between intelligence and law
enforcement agencies and encourage other countries to identify, disrupt, and defeat terrorist
financing networks.
THE WAR ON TERRORISM - THE FIRST 100 DAYS
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