While this huge human displacement (estimated at well over one million people, probably about a sixth of the total Somali population) fled their country, reducing pressure on resources at home, the remittances they sent back became a vital new source of economic aid for the kin they left behind. This indirect aid from the countries in which they found refuge was estimated to have an annual value of more than U.S.$800 million and accounted, according to some studies, for between 20 and 40 per cent of per capita household income in Somalia. These valuable remitted funds not only subsidized the living costs of families in Somalia but also directly, or indirectly through ‘taxes’ levied on them, contributed to the coffers of the factions and played an important role in maintaining their war chests.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 690