Somali government hands back nearly $10 million to UAE

Thursday May 19, 2022

Mogadishu (HOL) - Somali government officially handed back nearly $10 million to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, days after Somali lawmakers elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the country's president.

The Office of the Prime Minister made the announcement hours after the Prime Minister traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the funeral of late President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Office stated that Mohamed Hussein Roble would also convey greetings from Somalia's new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to the new president of the United Arab Emirates.

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In January, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble publicly apologized to the UAE for the seizure and ordered the release of the money, but the outgoing president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo ordered the central bank governor not to release $9.6 million in "illicit" money.

Somali police seized 9.6 million USD from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2018 at Adan Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. The money has been at the central bank, and it led Somalia's diplomatic relations with the Gulf country to further deteriorate.

Mohamud was elected by Somalia's members of parliament on Sunday in the capital Mogadishu, defeating the outgoing president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo.

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