Somalia received Saudi aid the day it cut ties with Iran: document

[Che -Guevara]

Somalia received a pledge of aid for $50 million from Saudi Arabia this month on the same day it announced it was cutting ties with Saudi rival Iran, a document seen by Reuters showed.

 

The government, which did not confirm or deny the pledge, has said there was no link between long-running Saudi financial support and its diplomatic decision to break ties with Iran. The Saudi Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

 

But diplomats said it was the latest sign of patronage used by the kingdom to shore up regional support against Iran, a rivalry that deepened this month when Sunni majority Saudi Arabia executed a Shi'ite cleric and Iranian protesters responded by torching the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

 

"The Saudis currently manage to rally countries behind them both on financial grounds and the argument of non-interference," a diplomat said, referring to what Sunni-majority countries see as Iran’s habit of cultivating ties to their Shi’ite minorities.

 

A document from the Saudi embassy in Nairobi to the Somali embassy in the Kenyan capital showed the kingdom pledging $20 million in budget support and another $30 million for investment in Somalia, a nation trying to rebuild after two decades of war.

 

The two grants would come from the Saudi Development Fund, according to the document that was dated Jan. 7, the same day Somalia cut ties with Tehran.

 

Somalia cut relations with Iran saying Tehran had meddled in Somali affairs and threatened national security. Mogadishu gave Iranian diplomats, among the few stationed in the Somali capital where bomb attacks are frequent, 72 hours to leave.

 

Somalia's Finance Minister Mohamed Aden Ibrahim declined to comment on the pledges, but said any financial assistance from Saudi Arabia was not related to Mogadishu's stance against Iran.

 

"Our relationship with Saudi Arabia was long-standing and is not something that has just started," the minister told Reuters.

 

Several other Arab states such as neighboring Bahrain, a long-time close ally and recipient of Saudi largesse also cut ties. Other wealthier Gulf states withdrew envoys.

 

Sudan, which like Somalia and Saudi Arabia is a member of the Arab League, said it had cut ties with non-Arab Iran.

 

Somalia's ties with Saudi Arabia have grown as it tries to rebuild a nation while battling an Islamist insurgency, although Western powers and Turkey remain among the biggest and more prominent donors to the country.

 

Somalia's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, met King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud in Saudi Arabia in October. A Saudi team had visited Somalia in late 2015 to discuss further Saudi support for the country.

 

"Any financial and other requests that we made to the Saudis were way before" Somali cut ties with Iran, Foreign Minister Abdusalam Omer told Reuters.

 

(Additional reporting by Angus McDowall in Riyadh and Bill Maclean in Dubai; Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Susan Thomas)

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-saudi-iran-idUSKCN0UV0BH

[xabad]

 

 

 

 

[Che -Guevara]

Hehe, one wonders where the 50 million would go?

[galbeedi]

We all hope they pay first those poor soldiers. It is not the lack of money , but mismanagement. in 2015, the government received $215 million. which included both the customs earning and direct foreign cash. If managed, Somali soldiers could be paid a good salary.

 

Imagine 10,000 soldiers paid $200 each for 12 months. that is $24 million. that is less than 12% of the so called budget. A nation facing insurgency and security issue should spend al least a third of it's income to the military.

 

Since they do not pay doctors, nurses, teachers or police officers in the regions outside Mogadishu , I would like to see the break down of the budget.

[Mooge]

<cite>

@Che -Guevara

said:</cite>

Hehe, one wonders where the 50 million would go?

 

niyoow qoslaye and his sidekick dhagajun were desperate to find projects for their ailing so-called GalNus and Hiiraan states. i heard they have been sleepless ever since Puntland projects finally came to reality. Qoslaye and damjadiid will be funding galmudug and hiiraan using federal money because "HAG needs projects too" my friend said to me. lool. i was laughing when I heard that because the federal money belongs to 18 regions of somalia and should never be used to fund one clan.

 

niyoow you will be hearing big project (airport) for galmudug and hiiran announced in the coming months. Watch this space. the person who told me all of this is big supporter of HAG projects. he thinks that it is fair to level the playing field with puntland. looool.

 

cajiib niyoow.

 

these people have become so shameless they will shave their bottom in public for clan reasons. lol

[Asad Ahmed]

MOOGE

what is wrong if hag build and fund their regions,arent they allowed to have projects too.

hobyo port need renovation

jowhar port need pavement-

cadale warsheekh road need paving

janaale-lower shabelle need roads.the list is endless or you want all the funds to go to pl alone,i think we should welcome all projects regardless of their location.

 

[Che -Guevara]

Mooge. I don't mind projects for any part of Somalia. We need economic revitalization so our youth will stop making hazardous journey to Europe.

 

What worries me the money will go to private pockets and be used for private projects including stealing elections.

 

And how much Siiraanyo was paid, I wonder?

 

You are too hopeful galbeedi,

[Mooge]

niyoow it is not that they should or shouldn't have a project. they need to hassle their own projects and whatever the federal government gets as AID should be equally divided among the 18 regions.

 

Puntland fought hard to get these projects just like Somaliland does its own thing. if qoslaye is using nation's treasure as his bank account to spoon-feed non-entity wastelands with no capable people and calling it FEDERAL STATE then maybe he shouldn't have created them in the first place. anyways there is no expectation on my part to see qoslaye make sense, but my job is to expose him.

[malistar2012]

Mooge

 

 

 

 

<cite>

@Mooge

said:</cite>

niyoow it is not that they should or shouldn't have a project. they need to hassle their own projects and whatever the federal government gets as AID should be equally divided among the 18 regions.

 

Puntland fought hard to get these projects just like Somaliland does its own thing. if

qoslaye is using nation's treasure as his bank account to spoon-feed non-entity wastelands with no capable people and calling it FEDERAL STATE

then maybe he shouldn't have created them in the first place. anyways there is no expectation on my part to see qoslaye make sense, but my job is to expose him.

 

Galmudug Has 4 busy Airport and Port under construction with huge Population (Bari and Nuugaal ) Got Noting on Galmudug State

 

Two New Airport big things happening in Galmudug 2016

http://galmudugmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2.jpg

Hobyo Airport renovated

 

Galkcayo New Airport Galmudug

Hobyo Sea Port is busy and bustling With Coast Guards