Minnesota Somalis Send Support
Story Filed: Sunday, November 19, 2000 10:28 PM EST
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Somali refugees in Minnesota have been wiring millions of dollars
back to their troubled homeland, and federal officials are investigating to determine
whether some of it is buying weapons for warring clans, the Star Tribune reported Sunday.
Most of the money is humanitarian aid for people unable to leave the East African
country, according to Somalis living in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, the Star
Tribune said.
However, some Somalis told the newspaper there is an organized collection system in
Minnesota that pressures them into contributing for guns and clan-based militias.
At least $75 million has been sent to Somalia
in the past four years, with an average of $2 million a month now leaving Minnesota for
Middle Eastern banks, the newspaper said.
The investigation by the FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the
Internal Revenue Service centers on how the money is collected, where it goes and who
donates, the newspaper said, quoting people familiar with the inquiry.
Contributions to terrorist organizations are illegal if the donor knowingly gives money
for a subversive purpose, said Mark Cangemi, head of INS investigations in Minnesota, Iowa
and the Dakotas. But that can be difficult to prove, he said.
``I can confirm there are inquiries that we're conducting on a routine basis, and it is
a concern,'' Cangemi said. ``It is a concern not only in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but I would
say it's a global issue.''
Representatives of the FBI and the IRS would not comment. No charges have been filed,
the Star Tribune said.
Somalis have had a growing presence in the Twin Cities since the mid-1990s. Estimates
of their numbers in the state range from 10,000 to 50,000.
The flow of money from Minnesota Somalis to Africa appears considerably more organized
than similar efforts by other immigrant groups, the Star Tribune said.
``I think the Somalis are doing this at a greater level than perhaps some other
groups,'' said Dawn Calabia, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees in Washington, D.C. ``The Somali sense of family is extremely strong. This is a
country with no safety nets.''
Somalia recently established its first
government since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Muhammad Siad Barre. War and famine in the
1990s left its people poor and homeless, and hundreds of thousands still live in refugee
camps.
In 1992, President Bush sent U.S. troops to Somalia
to help ensure safe passage of humanitarian aid. However, they became entangled in a
shooting war, and President Clinton withdrew the military after 18 American soldiers were
killed and 83 were injured in October 1993.
``Imagine a people with no central government. It is chaos,'' said Mohamed Ali Nor,
owner of Dahab-shil Inc., a Somali money-transfer business in Minneapolis. ``Imagine no
schools, no employment, no jobs. And if you try to farm, your stuff is dying or taken and
looted. People are starving, so you help your mom, your dad. You should help the family.''
But Abdi Samatar, who grew up in Somalia and is
a geography professor at the University of Minnesota, said not all the money is
humanitarian aid. ``Some people are sending money to warlords,'' he said.
Collections in Minnesota have fueled ``the very violence that has brought them here in
the first place seeking refuge,'' said Samatar, author of two books on Somali culture.
He and other Somalis say pressure to give money to warlords has lessened in recent
months. Somalian President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, who took office in August, hopes to
restore security after a decade of anarchy. But as recently as September, a clash of
militias killed 20 and wounded 18.
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