Somalia, 8 October 2025 - The Federal Government of Somalia has denied recent media reports claiming that Somalia and Sweden entered into a “secret agreement” linking development aid to the acceptance of deported Somali citizens.
The reports, previously published by Sweden’s national public radio broadcaster Ekot, alleged that Swedish development aid was redirected to projects connected to the Office of the Prime Minister of Somalia to strengthen its political influence.
The Office of the Prime Minister, in a statement today, described the allegations as false, misleading, and baseless, stressing that no secret or conditional agreements exist with any country regarding the deportation of Somali citizens or the allocation of development aid.
“These allegations are false, misleading, and have no basis. There is no secret or conditional agreement that Somalia has entered into with any other country concerning the return of its citizens or the distribution of development aid,” the statement said.
The government emphasized that all development aid and projects in Somalia are managed transparently, in line with international standards, including those of the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Somali federal government’s accounting systems.
The press release concluded that all development aid and international cooperation activities are implemented in a transparent, accountable, and effective manner.
The Ekot report also claimed that Sweden secretly transferred 100 million kronor (approximately USD 10.6 million) from its development budget to projects associated with Somalia’s Prime Minister, in exchange for Somalia agreeing to accept deported citizens.
This denial comes as Sweden’s Minister of Defence, Pål Jonson, visited Mogadishu yesterday.
