Somalia cracks down on funding channels for the Al-Shabaab

Al-Shabab has benefited from several sources of income over the years with special attention to Mogadishu, where it collects more than $15 million per month from businesses, large and small.

News Keydmedia Online
6 November 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The government of Somalia said it started to shut down revenue streams and channels for Al-Shabaab to deny the group funds to continue the ongoing war with the army.

Somalia's Deputy Minister of Information, Abdirahman Al-Addala said that the government succeeded in blocking the financial accounts of Al-Shabaab in the remittances and banks of Mogadishu.

Al-Adala added that the bank accounts blocked by the government contained millions of money belonging to the Al-Shabaab, which is extortion from the Somali traders and commercial centers.

The Minister further stated that this step is part of the implementation of the government's decision to cripple Al-Shabaab's financial resources.

Some of the businessmen in the country have taken a courageous action to refuse to give tax to Al-Shabaab, which has greatly affected the group's financial power," said the minister.

In July this year, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed that his government will fight Al-Shabaab militarily and economically by closing the funding streams and its bank accounts.

Al-Shabab has benefited from several sources of income over the years with special attention to Mogadishu, where it collects more than $15 million per month from businesses, large and small.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group which still controls many rural areas of the country collects tax from goods imported at the seaport in Mogadishu, a major source of revenue for the government.

KEYDMEDIA English