Somalia fears as US Sunrise banks stop money transfers  Refugee
Abshiro Isakbul sits by her sick son at the Transit Centre in
Dolo Ado, Ethiopia, on December 15, 2011. Many Somalis rely on
money sent from their relatives abroad  The largest bank which
lets Somalis in the US send money back home is due to close this
service, raising fears for the famine-hit country.  Sunrise
Community Banks said it would halt the money transfers to comply
with US laws on financing terror groups.  US-based Somalis are
believed to send about $100m back home each year - largely from
Minnesota.  The Somali government estimates that annual
remittances are $2bn - about one-third of the country's income.
It has urged Sunrise to delay its 30 December deadline for
closing the accounts of the Minnesota-based Somali money
transfer businesses, known as "hawala".  After two decades of
warfare, there is no formal banking system in Somalia.  Some
Minnesota-based ethnic Somalis have been accused of raising
money and recruiting fighters for a