Kuwaiti media is reporting on the activities of the International Islamic Charity Organization in Somalia. According to the report:
Kuwait relief aid effort is continuing in Somalia despite the harsh conditions, said the head of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) Dr. Abdullah Al-Matouq on Wednesday. He told KUNA that the IICO delegation had returned to Somalia to deliver relief aid to some 200,000 Somalis affected by the drought and hunger hitting the Horn of Africa region. The official thanked the Kuwaiti leadership and people on their generous offerings to their Somali brethren but stressed that things were far from being normal. The ICCO’s delegation is still carry on its efforts in Somalia and spared no effort in providing urgent aid convoys over the past weeks to implement the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in coordination with the Federation of Arab doctors and doctors across the continents of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Emirates Red Crescent and other regional and international organizations. Hospitals and refugee camps within and outside Somalia are struggling to stop the spread of epidemics of cholera and measles, which take the lives of dozens of children every day.
Previous post reported on the launching of the new IICO website and the celebration of its 25 anniversary in May 2010.
The IICO lists branches in the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and Central Asia and as late as 2008, the U.S. IICO branch was listed at the same address in Herndon, Virginia as the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), an important part of the US Muslim Brotherhood. An earlier post reported that the directors and advisors of IIIT attended a general Assembly meeting of the IICO.
The IICO’s Palestine Charity Committee sends its funds through “zakat committees” in the Palestinian territories, many of which are linked to Hamas. The Swiss office of the Islamic “charity” Human Appeal is also registered at the same address in Geneva as the IICO. Human Appeal has also been linked to Hamas funding and is one of the members, along with the IICO, of the Union of Good. The Union of Good is a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi which has been designated as a terrorist entity by the U.S. and Israel in connection with its funding of Hamas. Three individuals affiliated with the Swiss IICO branch were also associated with the now defunct Al Taqwa Bank, founded and operated by Muslim Brotherhood leaders Youssef Nada and Ali Ghaleb Himmat.
IICO Deputy Chairman Abdullah Omar Nasseef has held many important positions in Saudi Arabia including serving as Vice-President of the Kingdom’s Shura Council, President of King Abdul Aziz University, and most importantly as Secretary-General of the Muslim World League (MWL) from 1983-1993. Dr. Naseef is also the President of the Muslim World Congress and the Secretary-General of the International Islamic Council for Da’wa and Relief (IICDR) which includes a large number of affiliated organizations, many of which are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas fundraising, or support for Al Qaeda.