Response to interpellation 2025/26:129 on Swedish aid to Somalia
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 M argues that the government is carrying out extensive measures for a safe and orderly migration and that the aid can contribute to sustainable reintegration and increased return 1. 1 M emphasizes that the government has taken measures to ensure transparent aid where no tax money is lost to corruption 1. 2 M claims that for the first time, Sweden is clearly setting counter-requirements and conditioning the aid to Somalia to get back persons who do not have the right to stay in Sweden 2. 3 M underlines that the government has zero tolerance for corruption and that the agreement is professionally managed 3. 4 V considers that aid funds must not be used as bribes or to favor corruption 4. 4 V considers that the current situation is a scandal that has damaged Sweden's reputation and the trust in Swedish aid 4. 4 V argues that it is problematic that persons who have established themselves and have a well-organized life and work in Sweden are threatened with deportation 4. 5 M is proud of the dialogue with Somalia where persons without the right to stay in Sweden have left the country 5. 5 M considers that the support via the UN and UNDP contributes to the country's national development plan and promotes reforms as well as sustainable economic development 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! Lotta Johnsson Fornarve has asked me, partly on what grounds I and the government have chosen to use Swedish aid to achieve migration policy goals, and partly whether it is my opinion that Sweden's agreement with Somalia is in line with the work to reduce corruption and irregularities within the aid as described in the government's own reform agenda and, if not, whether I am prepared to take any measures.
Irregular migration and forced displacement pose challenges for societies and risks for the individual. Trust in the migration and asylum systems is also undermined when persons without the right to stay in a country do not return. The Government is therefore carrying out extensive measures to achieve safe, orderly, and regular migration and a well-functioning return. Aid can contribute in several ways, not least to sustainable reintegration and conditions for increased return. It is therefore the Government's ambition to strengthen the synergies between aid and migration policy in close cooperation and partnership with other countries. It is fully reasonable that countries that we cooperate with within aid also receive their citizens who lack the right to stay in Sweden. It is in accordance with international law principles.
The Government has taken a number of measures to ensure effective, results-oriented and transparent aid. No Swedish tax funds shall disappear into corruption within the framework of Swedish aid efforts. We shall also continue to both safeguard Swedish interests and meet the challenges that the world faces. The Government will continue the implementation of the reform agenda for aid with full force.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer to my interpellation.
"No Swedish tax funds shall disappear in corruption," says the minister. But on October 1, Sveriges Radios Ekot revealed a secret agreement between Sweden and the Somali government. Aid funds have been redirected in exchange for Somalia accepting citizens who have been denied residence permits in Sweden. The agreement was concluded, according to Ekot, in December 2023, and since then, the forced deportations to Somalia have increased.
The Somali government is said to have demanded that Swedish aid money be redirected so that Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and his inner circle would receive increased influence over the aid. This has since occurred by funds being forwarded to the Prime Minister's office and other government ministries. This implies an imminent risk that aid funds are made available to the Prime Minister and his close associates for political purposes and for personal gain. This truly resembles corruption and bribes.
Of course, Somalia has an obligation under international law to receive persons who have committed serious crimes and are therefore to be deported, but the fact that Somalia has been able to demand that Sweden redirect aid to benefit its own regime means, to speak plainly, nothing other than a bribe. It is a scandal that Swedish tax money is used to bribe one of the world's most corrupt regimes. Aid should be used to fight poverty, strengthen democracy and strengthen human rights, not to benefit corrupt regimes.
Ekots revelation shows that Sweden has collectively provided aid money of 100 million kronor, of which a significant part has gone to projects near the Prime Minister. All this has occurred despite that migration policy conditions are an ineffective way to conduct aid and despite an imminent risk of corruption. Somalia is in second to last place in the global corruption index which is conducted annually by Transparency International. That the government has wanted to keep the agreement secret indicates that it itself perceives it as questionable.
The government has been extremely clear that no aid funds may go to any organization that has even the slightest connection with Hamas or other Islamist organizations. But sending aid to Somalia's Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre does not seem to be a problem, despite him having been noted for making gross anti-Semitic remarks and praising the terrorist organization Hamas.
Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa has denied that there is a formal agreement between Sweden and Somalia but has confirmed that there is an arrangement. The money is channeled first via the World Bank and then via the UN Development Programme, UNDP. But neither the World Bank nor UNDP have been involved in entering into the migration policy agreement. It is something that the Swedish government itself is responsible for.
Is it the Minister's view that Sweden's agreement with Somalia is in line with the work to reduce corruption and irregularities within aid as it is described in the government's own reform agenda? If not, what does one intend to do about it?
On what grounds has the Minister and the Government chosen to use Swedish aid to achieve migration policy goals, even though funds used for direct migration may not be counted as aid according to the regulatory framework for aid?
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! I must ask what it is that the Left Party is actually so critical of. Is it that we have provided support to the World Bank? That is something that the Left Party has supported in many different contexts, even in Somalia as recently as 2018. Is it that we provide support to UNDP? That is a UN organization that Sweden has supported with billions in different contexts. Is it that Sweden carries out aid efforts in corrupt countries? If we were not allowed to conduct aid work in any country that is more corrupt than Sweden, we would have no aid at all. All countries in which we carry out aid work are more corrupt than Sweden, because we are one of the least corrupt countries on the entire globe. Many of the aid efforts aim precisely at reducing corruption in a country.
There is nothing secret about this. On the contrary, every single intervention will be reported on openaid.se, just like everything in the aid. These specific interventions are already reported on openaid.se. It is we from the current government and previous Alliance governments who launched Openaid and are now further developing it, so that the chambers of the Riksdag, journalists, the Swedish people, and Swedish taxpayers shall know where their money ends up.
The new thing is not any of this. The new thing is not even that one conducts a dialogue with the recipient country. For example, Morgan Johansson has openly bragged about what he did in Morocco several years ago. The new thing is that for the first time ever, Sweden is very clearly setting counter-requirements and conditioning the aid to Somalia. Many billions of the Swedish people's hard-earned tax money have gone to Somalia over the last decades without Somalia simultaneously following international law and taking in its own citizens.
During this year, we have succeeded in sending back Somalis who have no business in Sweden. They lack the legal right to stay here, and some of them have also committed very serious crimes in Sweden. They should not be here. They should go home to their home country, which is Somalia.
Vänsterpartiet, Miljöpartiet, Centerpartiet and Socialdemokraterna, all four parties that have criticized this arrangement, have in different ways said that Somalis who do not have the right to stay in Sweden should, of course, return to Somalia. But it is one thing to say that in the Riksdag's rostrum or in media debates and a completely different thing to actually deliver on it. Before we produced this agreement, one could hardly carry out any deportations at all to Somalia of Somalis who did not have the right to stay here.
We are not just talking about this in theory but also delivering it in practice. We are now going to roll this out to more countries. It will be a similar setup, but perhaps not exactly the same as in the case of Somalia. Furthermore, we will begin to use trade policy much more clearly. If one is to get access to the European market with very generous customs benefits, we also expect that one fulfills international law and accepts one's own citizens.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the further answer.
What we are critical of is that aid has been used in this way as a bribe. That is exactly what has happened when aid money has been sent to projects that are very close to the Prime Minister and which he controls so that the Somali government will accept persons whom we want to deport from Sweden. This is what is so incredibly remarkable, to say the least. It is a scandal, I think, that aid money has been used in this way.
Even though the minister is now trying to talk it all away, it is precisely what has happened. Both the World Bank and the UNDP are distancing themselves from the migration policy agreement. It is obvious that it has also damaged the trust in these organizations and that the trust for Swedish aid and the image of Sweden has taken damage from this scandal.
The migration agreement between Sweden and Somalia led to a long conflict between the countries and between Swedish authorities. The conflict led to Somalia deporting the Swedish aid chief, according to Ekot's information. She was perceived as standing in the way of the money, according to Somali sources. What actually happened, and why do we get no information about why the Swedish aid chief was deported?
In addition to the 100 million, the government is to have paid out around 5 million kronor to Somalia so that deportations can be carried out in a previously unknown arrangement, alongside the budget for aid, according to an investigation by Dagens Nyheter.
The money has financed three positions at the Somali government office with salaries of over 100,000 kronor per month. Relatives of the Somali Prime Minister's inner circle are reported to have received the positions. It is obvious that this is a matter of corruption, despite the government being clear in its reform agenda that the aid should be used to reduce corruption and irregularities within the aid.
Aid should be used to counter corruption and not contribute to strengthening corruption, which has obviously occurred here when Somalia's regime has demanded that the aid be redirected to benefit them themselves – for that is exactly what has happened – in exchange for accepting Somalis threatened with deportation from Sweden.
Just as I said, Somalia is obviously obligated to accept criminals facing deportation, but obviously we cannot use aid as a bribe for Somalia to fulfill its international obligations.
It has also been shown that far from all of those threatened with deportation are criminals. Recently, an article was published about Hassan, who is 24 years old and has established himself in Sweden. He has learned Swedish and has a steady job so that he can support himself. He has a functioning life here in Sweden, and yet he now risks deportation to Somalia as part of the government's agreement with Somalia. How many more like Hassan risk being deported because of the agreement?
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! The Government has zero tolerance for all forms of corruption. We know that corruption is a major problem in aid. In 10 percent of all of Sida's active interventions, there is suspicion of corruption or other irregularities. For 16 percent of their partners, there is currently suspicion of corruption or other irregularities.
We have zero tolerance for corruption. Should we discover that the money we provide to the two organizations, the UN, in this case UNDP, and the World Bank, goes to corruption, we would of course act immediately. At this moment, there are no such indications. Vänsterpartiet has previously supported both the World Bank and UNDP with billions in support all around the world. Why would there be such a big difference with just this support?
Member of Parliament Johnsson Fornarve also points out that the image of Sweden would be affected negatively. On the contrary, it will affect the image of Sweden positively that we have an orderly migration and that we take crime fighting seriously. People who are criminals, commit serious crimes and who do not have the right to stay in Sweden will leave the country. We will do everything we can so that they also leave Sweden.
I also received a question about UNDP and the World Bank distancing themselves. I have been clear all along that neither UNDP nor the World Bank have been parties to this agreement, but rather it is between Sweden and Somalia. A part of the agreement concerns how we are to channel the support and aid efforts to Somalia. The member said that trust would have been affected. It is the World Bank and UNDP that receive support from us. It is we who should have trust in them. It is they who receive our money.
We have handled this in a professional manner. We believe the questions remain important. We will continue to roll this out in more geographies where we also believe it is important to get a response on the ground.
It is one thing to just talk about it in theory. It is another thing to deliver in practice. These are partly people who are dangerous to the Swedish people. They must out of the country.
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve (V)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister!
It is zero tolerance towards corruption, says the minister. Nevertheless, aid funds have obviously been used to benefit the Somali prime minister. That is the big difference here. This is something that has been revealed by both Ekot och Dagens Nyheter, who have followed up on this.
Aid funds have gone directly to the prime minister's office and to projects close to the prime minister, who is one of the world's most corrupt prime ministers, and to hiring officials with high salaries who stand close to the Somali prime minister. This is nothing other than corruption and bribery.
The government says that aid should be used effectively where it does the most good. Why, then, was the support for a democracy project run by the Swedish organization Diakonia abolished? It is aid that has gone, for example, to women's participation in politics, to counter radicalization among young people, and to help poor farmers in rural areas to introduce better methods for sustainable agriculture.
This is what they are doing in Somalia, and instead, they are moving the money as close to the Prime Minister's office as possible. It is a Prime Minister who is not only one of the world's most corrupt but has also been noted for having made gross antisemitic statements and praised the terrorist organization Hamas.
Is this how we are to use our Swedish aid funds and our tax money? No, of course not. Aid must never be used as a bribe or to favor corruption. I consider this entire story to be a scandal and something that has clearly damaged Sweden's reputation and the trust in Swedish aid.
I also did not receive an answer regarding the fact that it is not only criminal Somali immigrants who have been deported, but also those who have established themselves and have a well-organized life and work here who are threatened with deportation.
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! I am proud of our dialogue with Somalia, where during the year we have succeeded in getting people who do not have the right to stay in Sweden to also leave Sweden. Some of them have committed very serious crimes in our country.
Through the support via the UN and the organization UNDP, we contribute to the implementation of the country's national development plan. It is an ambitious plan with measures to promote reforms in the public sector, build institutional capacity, support leadership and digital transformation for improved governance and sustainable economic development. I hope that in the long run it contributes to strengthened national ownership and reduced aid dependency.
The EU supports Somalia in the fight against the Islamist terrorist organization al-Shabab, which controls parts of the country. It is also an important contribution to Sweden's and Europe's security.
We must be able to conduct a dialogue with Somalia, as with any other country, on issues that are important to us and that can simultaneously contribute to the country's development. It is about a mutual partnership and not corruption.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.