Conditions require cash aid to Somalia: Turkish foreign minister

UMUT ERDEM ANKARA / Hürriyet

Suspected al-Shabaab militants wait to be taken for interrogation in Mogadishu. AFP Photo

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said the lack of banking infrastructure in Somalia has necessitated the provision of direct cash aid from the Turkish government to the Somali government.

“No banking service is offered in Somalia,” Davutoğlu said, while emphasizing that the government of Turkey had provided monthly payments of $4.5 million to the federal government of Somalia in the second half of 2013. He added that this was provided in order to lend support for budget expenditures, upon the latter’s request.

“No cash aid is provided to Somalia other than that,” Davutoğlu said, in an official statement delivered in response to a number of motions filed by opposition lawmakers.

“The aid has been appropriately handed over to Somalia authorities via our Mogadishu Embassy. Our direct aid was made in close cooperation with the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey and delivered to the Central Bank of Somalia on account of required receipts and payment documents. Payments were made in the presence of the President of the Central Bank of Somalia, the Interior Minister of Somalia and the Finance Minister of Somalia, and their signatures were put on payment documents as witnesses. The federal government of Somalia has reported to our ministry in detail as to where those sources were spent,” he said.

Davutoğlu also noted that the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu was being protected “at the highest level.” The internal security of the embassy premises is provided by Special Forces of the Turkish police and neighborhood security is provided by Somali intelligence agency forces, he added.