Somalia’s ministry of commerce and industry said the full force of the law would be brought against traders who pay the Alshabab, which experts say raises millions of dollars through a complex and extensive taxation system.
The government threatened to sanction businesses that pay extortion money to al-Shabab, looking to choke a lucrative cash pipeline the Islamist militants use to fund a deadly insurgency. The ministry said any business found to have paid or collaborated with al-Shabab in any way would “face legal action” including having their government-issued trading permits revoked.
The group has been trying to overthrow the central government in Mogadishu for more than 15 years and regularly stages deadly bombings and armed attacks on civilian and military targets.
Despite an international effort to degrade the group, Alshabab controls swaths of countryside, and allegedly uses threats of violence to collect taxes in territory under their jurisdiction.
The group taxes real estate, road cargo at checkpoints and slaps customs on imports passing through the capital’s main port, according to a 2020 report by the Mogadishu-based Hiraal Institute. The think tank then estimated al-Shabab raised at least $15 million a month, rivaling the government’s own tax collection efforts.
