{UAH} U.S. banks cut off cash transfers to Somalia amid terrorism concerns - The Washington Post

Last week, Abdia Sheikh made her regular trip to Dahabshiil, a tiny office in Falls Church, Va., and a financial nerve center of the Somali community in Northern Virginia. She had brought $200 in cash, which she sends every month to the widow and children of her brother, who was killed in Somalia's brutal civil war. 

But this time, she was told the transaction would not be allowed. Across the country, thousands of other Somalis were being told the same thing, sending panic through their close-knit enclaves. Under pressure from federal agencies trying to curb money flows to criminals and terrorists, the last American bank willingto arrange cash transfers to their impoverished East African country had just cut them off.

"This is devastating. My sister-in-law is alone with seven children, no income and no help," said Sheikh, 57, an employee of the World Bank. "If it weren't for the few hundred dollars my sisters and I send them every month, they would be evicted and have no way to buy food."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/us-banks-cut-off-cash-transfers-to-somalia-amid-terrorism-concerns/2015/02/13/f95c696c-b155-11e4-854b-a38d13486ba1_story.html

Brian M. Kwesiga

President and CEO,

Ugandan North American Association - UNAA

972.415.6372 | www.unaa.org | "United We Stand"