Somali Community Looks for Hawala Solution

Story by Zuhur Ahmed

At a meeting on March 3rd in Minneapolis, members of the local Somali community expressed concern for their relatives and friends suffering famine in the Horn of Africa. The ability of people in Minnesota to send financial support to Somalia was severely compromised late last year when Franklin banks stopped doing overseas money transfers in cooperation with local businesses called Hawalas.

Since then, Somali leaders have been trying to come up with solutions. This past Saturday the Somali community held a community forum meeting to discuss this issue further with the larger community. About 400 people participated in the event at Abu-Bakr Al-Sadiq Islamic Center in South Minneapolis.

KFAI’s Zuhur Ahmed has a report.