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2022-11-16 Africa Horn
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US goes for Al-Shabaab financial channels, gives $10 million reward
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[Garowe] Previously, the US State Department had concentrated on targeting senior al-Shabaab
 ...... the personification of Somali state failure...
snuffies with financiers given little attention. A report published by the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
independent experts noted that the group runs a budget of up to $100 million annually, with $24 million being diverted to the purchase of weapons.
The State Department says al-Shabaab uses traditional methods to fund its activities, including bribery, extortion, hawala money transfers, kidnappings for ransom, money laundering, and personal couriers, but it has also developed its own sources of funding and become increasingly independent from external sponsorship.
"Its newest sources of funding include extortion of elders, businesspeople, and farmers; exploitation of the used automobile trade to its benefit; mobile money transfers, and theft of pastoralists’ livestock," the latest statement which comes amid heightened al-Shabaab crackdown read.
Through territorial expansion, al-Shabaab also engages in illicit activities, such as illegal mining and trade/smuggling of commodities such as charcoal, heroin [which it resells to criminal groups], ivory, livestock, and sugar. al-Shabaab also imposes taxes on individuals, businesses, pirates, etc., and collects tolls, fees, and taxes on agricultural produce and land, the statement further read.
Under the new structure, the Department of State will be offering rewards for information that can lead to the identification and disruption of significant sources of revenue for al-Shabaab [e.g., extortion and taxation, smuggling of contraband, and weapons and drug trade].
Also, the department will consider information that can lead to the identification and disruption of exploitation of local natural resources by al-Shabaab [e.g., logging, mining, and smuggling] and financial contributions by donors and financial controllers to al-Shabaab.
Further, the US is rewarding individuals who can help with the identification of significant transactions by financial institutions and use of money service providers to transfer funds and access the international financial system on al-Shabaab’s behalf and businesses or investments owned or controlled by al-Shabaab or its financiers.
The department will consider pursuing international activity by front companies tied to al-Shabaab, engaged in financial transactions on its behalf, and criminal schemes involving al-Shabaab members and supporters, who are financially benefiting the organization.
On the radar for punishment as well are illicit financial schemes of al-Shabaab [e.g., money laundering], and transfers of funding and material by al-Shabaab to its terrorist and militia proxies and partners, in what if achieved, would significantly diminish the influence of the group which controls large swathes of rural central and southern Somalia. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2022-11-16 00:00||
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File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)
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