Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met with Brian Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence of the United States, at the Villa Somalia in Mogadishu on Friday.
During the meeting, President Mohamud emphasized the effectiveness of the rules and regulations for financial sanctions against terrorists and the intelligence measures that disrupted the financial resources relied upon by the terrorists. He attributed these actions to hastening the progress in the war and the liberation of areas previously under al-Shabaab control in the country.
In January, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre announced the closure of every known account connected with the militants to dismantle the group’s financial infrastructure. The government has closed about 250 militant-connected accounts in four banks and also shut down the network and the data services of about 70 mobile phones the militants were using to transfer money, Prime Minister Hamza said.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud discussed with Brian Nelson the collaborative efforts between Somalia and the U.S. in implementing financial sanctions against terrorism, their role in the second phase of the operation to liberate the country from the Khawarij, and the progress made in the Somalia debt relief program.
Government forces have been making significant progress against the militants since August, launching a major Somali-led campaign against al-Shabaab, marking the most effective offensive against the terror group in the past 15 years.
In response, Brian Nelson welcomed Somalia’s advancements in countering al-Shabaab to stabilize the country, and he affirmed his country’s commitment to supporting the Somali government in its efforts against money laundering and counter-terrorism.
Nelson’s second trip to Africa as undersecretary and his first to East Africa follows visits by several senior Biden administration officials to the continent this year after President Joe Biden pledged in December that the U.S. was “all in” on Africa’s future.
