International Donors Pledge $2.4 Billion Towards Somalia’s Reconstruction

Somalia can expect to receive nearly 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in aid from international donors over the next three years, reported Reuters on Monday, after an EU-led donation drive pledged to back the African nation’s reconstruction efforts following decades of civil war.

Somalia can expect to receive nearly 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in aid from international donors over the next three years, reported Reuters on Monday, after an EU-led donation drive pledged to back the African nation’s reconstruction efforts following decades of civil war.

Some 50 international delegates had met with Somali leaders in Brussels this week, where they discussed a “New Deal” compact to rebuild Somalia – by building a justice system, fostering political dialogue and improving day-to-day security.

The “New Deal” would be based on four key priorities, said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after the meeting, namely security, legal reform, public finances and economic recovery.

The EU on its part has promised to give $870 million in fresh aid, on top of a $1.6 billion outlay from 2008 to 2013, to help the fledgling democracy and said that it would continue to “remain engaged” with Somali leaders in order to ensure that the aid does not go to waste.

“We are very conscious of the fact this (the donation) is taxpayer’s money,” said Alex Polack, a spokesman for the European Commission, to the Wall Street Journal.

[quote]”If our commitment is firm, we cannot fail, and for the sake of the people of Somalia, we must not fail,” added the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.[/quote]

Speaking to the press after the summit, Somalia’s Hassan Sheikh Mohamud acknowledged that the $2.4 billion pledge was “a huge amount”, but was a “very clear indication that our international partners are serious in sustaining the current progress and development in Somalia.”

Mohamud, an engineer and former academic, was elected as president last September and is the first leader to receive official U.S. recognition since 1991.

“The New Deal must deliver on the ground soon,” he said in an opening address to the international donors.

[quote]After years of suffering, “expectations from our people are understandably high. We must not let them down,” he said.[/quote]

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Meanwhile, Mohamud’s main opposition, the hardline Islamist al-Shabaab militants, immediately denounced the conference.

“The billions promised will most likely be unpaid, the paltry sum…will be lost in corruption,” the group said on its twitter account.

“It’s (The New Deal is) a bit like Belgian Waffles: sweet on the outside but really has not much substance to it,” al-Shabaab added.

Al-Shabaab forces still control parts of Somalia’s southern countryside, while there have been a recent spate of bombings in the capital of Mogadishu – a somber reminder of lingering insecurity.

However, led by the EU and the U.S., international donors are bankrolling the fight against the militants, spending billions on helping African Union forces take on al-Shabaab.

Amid the violence, there have also been accusations of corruption thrown at Somalia’s leaders. In July this year, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia said Somalia’s central bank had become a “slush fund” for political leaders and that the current governor played a central role in irregularities surrounding unaccountable disbursements of cash.

Somalia’s government however now report that international investigators have cleared it of corruption allegations made by United Nations monitors.