Kenya targets al Shabaab’s lifeline

This trade cycle is dominated by networks of prominent Somali businessmen operating mainly between Somalia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, notably Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The viability of the Kismayu trade corridor depends in large part upon its proximity to Kenya, the remote and porous 682 km border and the profitability of the contraband trade.

Furthermore, the Monitoring Group believes that well-organised criminal networks with links to al Shabaab are taking advantage of the porosity of the border to smuggle people, commercial goods and weapons.

al Shabaab not only attracts their business by imposing lower rates of taxation in Kismayu than at ports controlled by the Transitional Federal Government but also actively promotes large-scale imports of sugar and exports of charcoal by offering preferential access and tax breaks to al Shabaab affiliated businesses.

“Consequently, many Somali traders avoid Mogadishu, preferring to discharge their cargoes at Kismayu or other ports where import taxes are lower.

“For example, Mogadishu port authorities charge an import duty in the amount of $1,300 on a mid-size vehicle,” reads the report.

At Kismayu al Shabaab charges only $200. Even if e transporter then wishes to deliver the vehicle to Mogadishu, it costs another $200, including driver fees, fuel and miscellaneous expenses, to drive the car from Kismayu to Mogadishu.

“The vast majority of imports via Kismayu are not intended to serve the local population, but are destined for other parts of southern Somalia that could be equally or better served by Mogadishu or be smuggled into neighbouring countries as contraband,” reads the 417-page report.

Thus in April 2011, Kenyan sugar sold at between Sh4,800 and Sh4,900 per 50 kg sack (approximately $58-$60), while the same amount of sugar smuggled from Kismayu sold in Garissa at between Sh4,350 and Sh4,450 (approximately $53-$55), even after a mark-up of roughly 20 per cent.

According to a senior Kenyan customs official in North Eastern Province, about 10,000 bags of smuggled sugar may be entering Kenya from Somalia on a daily basis.

The report also quotes Kenyan authorities as having discovered light weapons and ammunition concealed in some sugar consignment.

“In addition to those taxes on businesses, al Shabaab operates a comprehensive web of mobile military checkpoints where transportation operators and passengers are all obliged to pay taxes for free passage,” reads the report.

“The Monitoring Group therefore considers many of the major traders and transporters who use Kismayu to be consciously and voluntarily engaging in commercial transactions that accrue significant financial benefit to al Shabaab,” the report says.

The report names two prominent figures in the network are businessmen with historical linkages to militant Islamist groups in Somalia: Abukar Omar Adaani, 42, and Ahmed Nur Jim’aale.

Ironically, the report points a finger at the Transitional Federal Government saying it is complicit in maintaining the Kismayu trade corridor that plays such a key role in financing the al Shabaab war effort.