Wednesday September 3, 2025
Cairo (HOL) — The Arab League has agreed to cancel 75
percent of Somalia’s debts after Mogadishu requested relief from nearly four
decades of unpaid annual membership contributions, Somali officials said
Tuesday.
Somali Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to
the Arab League, Ali Abdi Aware, called the decision a “historic achievement”
during the League’s 164th session of permanent representatives in Cairo. He
thanked member states for supporting Somalia’s request, saying the outcome
reflected “sustained diplomatic efforts” by the Somali Embassy in Cairo under
the guidance of national leaders.
It was not immediately clear how much Somalia owed in unpaid
contributions. Somalia joined the Arab League in 1974, fourteen years after
independence.
The waiver comes as Somalia continues to push for broader
debt relief. In 2024, the Paris Club — a group of major creditor nations
including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Norway and Japan —
announced the cancellation of 99 percent of Somalia’s $2 billion debt, a move
hailed as critical for the Horn of Africa nation’s fragile economic recovery
after three decades of conflict.
The Paris Club said part of the debt forgiveness was carried
out on a voluntary bilateral basis, while the remainder fell under the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, a debt-relief framework managed by the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
