Al-Shabaab ‘outgrows’ illegal charcoal trade in move likely to benefit KDF
Soldiers of the Somalia Transitional Federal Government patrol Burgabo Port in Somalia, 60km from the Kenyan border, on November 10, 2011. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
A new report by the UN Panel of Experts on Somalia says the ban imposed to curtail the group's terrorist activities may have lost its steam as the fighters go for alternative, albeit illegal, sources of money.
The new trend in expansion of Al-Shabaab’s “mafia-style taxation” is revenue taxation of imports into Mogadishu port, extortion as well as enticing the public by providing “basic services.
Since August 2018, the panel has reported no charcoal exports from Somalia that violated the UN Security Council's ban, compared to the three million bags reported in 2017.
Somali militant group Al-Shabaab may have outgrown its reliance on illegal charcoal export for revenue and turned to ‘local means’, a move that could free the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) from perennial accusations of having a hand in smuggling.
A new report by the UN Panel of Experts on Somalia says the ban imposed to curtail the group's terrorist activities may have lost its steam as the fighters go for alternative, albeit illegal, sources of money.
