US remains focused on disrupting finances for Somalia’s al-Shabab
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States strongly backed efforts to disrupt the illegal financing methods used by Somalia’s al- Shabab extremist group, which according to U.N. experts raised more than the $21 million it spent last year on fighters, weapons and intelligence.
U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft told the Security Council on Wednesday the Trump administration is committed to partnering with other countries and using U. N. sanctions to counter al- Shabab’s “financing of terrorism” and the threat from homemade bombs the group is making.
The United States also remains focused on limiting the ability of al-Shabab to conduct attacks against civilians, she said.
The Security Council was focusing on the panel of experts whose latest report stresses the continuing impact of al-Shabab’s operations not only in Somalia but in neighboring Kenya.
“The threat posed by alShabab to peace, security and stability in Somalia goes beyond the impact of the group’s conventional military action and asymmetric warfare to include sophisticated extortion and ` taxation’ systems, child recruitment practices and an effective propaganda machine,” the report said.
Al- Qaida- linked alShabab remains the most active and resilient extremist group in Africa, controlling parts of southern and central Somalia and often targeting check
points and other high-profile areas in the capital, Mogadishu. It has fired several mortars this year at the heavily defended international airport, where the U.S. Embassy and other missions are located.
The panel said al-Shabab lost territory as a result of military operations by the Somali National Army and the joint U. N.- African Union peacekeeping force and the increased intensity of airstrikes “by international actors,” including the United States. But since last December, it said the group was able to carry out three large-scale complex attacks, including on a U.S.-Kenyan military base in January and Mogadishu’s Elite Hotel in August.
The experts stressed that military operations against al- Shabab “must be accompanied by non-military efforts to degrade the group’s capacity and combat its propaganda.”
The panel of experts focused on one al- Shabab “taxation” checkpoint in Lower Juba, the group’s extortion of businesses in Kismayo, and two bank accounts associated with the group’s collection of taxes on imports into the port in Mogadishu, and “zakat”
an annual religious obligation.
Its investigation found that al-Shabab generated approximately $13 million in these four case studies alone. It assessed that the group remains “in a strong financial position and is generating a significant budgetary surplus, some of which is invested in property purchases and businesses in Mogadishu.”