Attachments
By Wendy Williams
March 27, 2023
Cutting off al Shabaab’s estimated $100 million in extortion-generated annual revenue will require restoring the integrity of Somalia’s compromised financial, judicial, and intelligence agencies.
Despite setbacks, al Shabaab remains a resilient and destabilizing threat in Somalia. In the past year, it was linked to 2,553 violent events and 6,225 fatalities. This represents nearly a doubling in the number of incidents since 2019. Fatalities involving al Shabaab have increased by 120 percent during this period.
A key means by which al Shabaab has remained resilient is the estimated $100 million in revenue it generates annually. By comparison, the Federal Government of Somalia accrues approximately $250 million in annual revenue.
Al Shabaab’s revenues support roughly 5,000 to 10,000 well-armed fighters as well as a network of operatives on the group’s payroll. Its revenues enable al Shabaab to sustain stable illicit regional supply channels while maintaining a phantom presence throughout much of Somalia.
Al Shabaab extorts revenue from various aspects of everyday Somali life—from toll roads to property taxes—building on its cultivated reputation of omnipresence and intimidation. Al Shabaab has also compromised various government agencies including, for example, acquiring freight manifests from port employees enabling it to extort shipping companies upon arrival.
Al Shabaab has regularly conducted assassinations to enforce its will and silence opposition, targeting state governors, election delegates, government officials, and clan elders. Sheikhs who have publicly declared al Shabaab’s campaign un-Islamic have been singled out.
Al Shabaab’s revenues enable it to maintain a robust presence in media and information spaces to push its ideology, shape national and state politics, and spread disinformation. With such largesse, al Shabaab is well positioned to remain a destabilizing force in Somalia, the region, and further afield for years to come. Dismantling al Shabaab’s revenue generating infrastructure, therefore, is vital to undermining the capacity of the militant group.