The Somali government has welcomed the recent announcement by the US to sanction a dozen al Shabab financial facilitators.
In a statement, the Ministry of Information said that the significant action taken by the Washington government resulted from joint investigations conducted by Somalia and the United States.
Somali authorities have warned businesses not to cooperate with the sanctioned individuals.
This decision coincides with the Somali government’s recent directive warning entrepreneurs and bankers from working with Al Shabaab.
Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre also threatened to impose sanctions on more individuals cooperating with Al-Shabab. The PM made the comments during an interview with Al-Arabia TV in Addis Ababa.
According to the US Department of the Treasury, the network of over a dozen men assisted Al-Shabaab with financial facilitation, recruitment and the purchase of weapons.
Abdullahi Jeeri (Jeeri), Khalif Adale (Adale), Hassan Afgooye (Afgooye), Abdikarim Hussein Gagaale (Gagaale), Abdi Samad (Samad) and Abdirahman Nurey (Nurey) have been identified as financial intermediaries with close ties to Al Shabaab leadership.
Mohamed Hussein Salad (Salad), Ahmed Hasan Ali Sulaiman Mataan (Mataan), and Mohamed Ali Badaas (Badaas) are allegedly part of an Al-Shabaab smuggling and weapons trafficking network in Yemen.
US officials believe the group generates over $100 million annually through various enterprises including extortion of local people and businesses, collecting fees on goods and smuggling.
