In late June, it came to light that the UK bank Barclays was due to close the accounts of a range of Somali money transfer businesses (among other such transfer companies) during July. This news produced a swift response from academic, civil society and advocacy groups, flagging up the disastrous consequences this was likely to have on Somali livelihoods in particular, given the country’s otherwise poor linkages to the international financial system.
Here is a quick overview of the situation, and some of the great coverage and analysis it has received:
- Laura Hammond, at SOAS in London, orchestrated the first response, an open letter to Barclays and to UK Africa minister Mark Simmonds. This launched a campaign seeking to delay closure of the accounts for at least six months (a shorter delay was subsequently announced by Barclays).
- Farhan Hassan, a Somali based in the UK, has created an online petition linked to the campaign. http://ow.ly/mkGpr Please sign!
- Laura wrote a follow up piece for African Arguments, underscoring the threat to livelihoods posed by the closure of remittances companies, and highlighting the inconsistency of UK policy towards Somalia in this case. Closure of the remittance companies’ accounts in the UK would undermine the political transition that the UK government has been actively supporting.
- Mary Harper, a UK journalist, has an excellent blog post where she has been tracking various developments with the campaign, including efforts to send a wire transfer to Somalia by means other than remittance companies (in this case Western Union). Mary’s post includes copies of responses to the announced closure from the Somali federal government, NGOs and Somali civil society groups.
- Laura was the lead author for a report, Family Ties: Remittances and Livelihoods Support in Puntland and Somaliland, which was launched by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit/Somalia on July 1.
- Zoe Flood, a journalist working in East Africa, wrote a pair of stories on the situation, which provide good background and analysis. One story appeared in This is Africa, the other was written for IRIN.
- Jamal Osman, a Somali journalist based in London, produced an excellent segment for Channel 4 news on the impact of the closures.
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It will be important to keep the spotlight on this situation, in order to maintain pressure on Barclays and the UK government to come up with an alternative outcome which does not undermine livelihoods and political stability in Somalia, in the name of ensuring financial transparency in the UK. One simple way to do that is to sign the ePetition: http://ow.ly/mkGpr