DOD Memo: Saudi Charity Served as Conduit for Arms Shipments into Somalia

by U.S. Department of Defense
June 29, 2009

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Summary:

IPT Summary: A Defense Intelligence memo was discovered on a Federation of American Scientists blog by lawyers for plaintiffs in a major lawsuit that holds Saudi Arabia financially liable for the 9/11 terror attacks. A copy of the document obtained by FAS as part of a Freedom of Information Act in the mid-1980s was provided to the Philadelphia Inquirer by the plaintiffs' lawyers. The heavily redacted memo alleges that the Saudi High Commission for Relief, a well-known Saudi charity, had helped channel military weapons, ammunition, and supplies to Somali National Alliance (SNA) forces in Mogadishu. The charity also received humanitarian supplies from Sudan and Iraq that included military weapons and ammunition, usually hidden in false bottom containers of crates. The document further alleges that an organization called "Hey Tolouyea" or "Hayat al-Ulya," which literally translates to "High Commission" in English, is likely identical to the quasi-governmental committee run by Riyadh governor Prince (Salman) bin Abd al-Azis, responsible for channeling private and public Saudi contributions to various Islamic causes.