Finland Has Suspended Its Bilateral Development Cooperation Programme With Somalia

It was less than a week ago that we reported on the election of a Finnish citizen as President of Somaliland and now, on November 20, the Finnish Government has announced that it is withdrawing certain support from neighbour Somalia.

Finland suspends certain aid to Somalia until is accepts migrants being expelled from Finland

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio made the announcement, citing a government programme, according to which Finland’s development cooperation is conditional on countries’ agreement to repatriate their own citizens at Finland’s request and their support for the international rules-based order.

Tavio stated, “The suspension means that no new funding decisions will be made until concrete progress has been made in repatriation cooperation with Somalia.”

Original agreement was that development aid was available provided Somalia accepted Finland’s unapproved Somali immigrants back

Currently a number (which has not been revealed) of Somali citizens are living in Finland but do not have residence permits which means that Finland wants to see them returned to their home country.

Charities and humanitarian aid will not be affected

The sum of between €8 and €9 million which had been budgeted for bilateral development in 2025 has been put on hold although there will be no restriction on previously agreed humanitarian aid or commitments towards NGOs.

Although the minister hopes that the matter will be resolved amicably, his position was made clear when he stated “Return cooperation has not reached a sufficient level. States must naturally strive to ensure that all those illegally in their country are returned, when that can be done safely.”