The most tangible and devastating consequence was the action taken by the U.S. government in closing down the offices and Internet communication service of the Dubai-based Somali remittance bank al-barakat, suspected of collecting funds for Islamic terrorist organizations although this was vehemently denied by its directors. Fortunately for Somalilanders, their older banking service, dahabshil, which also operated in the south, was exempt from this cavalier American action (although briefly banned in Ethiopia). Remittances in the south immediately dropped by 50 per cent and there were reports of businessmen in their droves quitting Mogadishu and transferring their activities elsewhere.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 700