Somalia’s Al-Shabab Militants Widening Revenue Base – By Ahmed Mohamed (VOA News) / Nov 9, 2022
MOGADISHU — U.N. experts say the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab has widened its revenue stream beyond its traditional activities, like charging tolls at checkpoints, to illegally taxing properties and construction.
In a new report, made public this month, U.N. experts say the terrorist group is seeking more funds to pay about $1 million per month in salaries to its fighters. The report says despite Somalia’s crackdown on al-Shabab, the militants are also able to move funds through local and Islamic banks.
A Somali woman who declined to be named for security reasons told VOA that al-Shabab militants demanded she pay $425 this year in so-called taxes for a house she bought almost three years ago in Mogadishu.
She said a man called her on the phone and summoned her to an al-Shabab court outside Elasha-boyaha, in Lower Shabelle region. She traveled there, and met a crowd of people from Mogadishu who were also summoned by the court. She said nobody dares to defy the group’s orders because people get killed.
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