Abdulkareem Jama, minister of information, stated that the contract would be suspended until later in the week, with these words: “At this point, our collective thinking is that this is not a good thing.” According to a story in the New York Times: "Several representatives have accused the government of striking secret deals that could open Somalia to private security companies and worsen the nation’s instability. Other Somali officials were said to be debating, on Sunday night, how to handle Saracen."
Somalia’s defense minister, Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi, added to Jama's confused statement: “We don’t want to have anything to do with Blackwater,” mentioning accusations that Blackwater employees had killed civilians in Iraq. “We need help, but we don’t want mercenaries.”
