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Stop Al-Shabaab’s ‘taxtortion’

Al-Shabaab militants in Elasha Biyaha, Somalia, on February 13, 2012.

Al-Shabaab militants in Elasha Biyaha, Somalia, on February 13, 2012.

Photo credit: AFP

What you need to know:

But the most notorious of the many taxes is jizyah.

Civilians are trapped in a vicious cycle of exploitation and fear, unable to challenge the oppressive demands of Al-Shabaab

In mid March, the United States, through the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), imposed sanctions on 16 entities and individuals that it claimed comprised an expansive business network spanning the Horn of Africa, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Cyprus that launders funds for Al-Shabaab.

The revelations laid bare the avenues that the terrorist group’s leadership allegedly uses to siphon extorted funds to foreign jurisdictions, where they hoard wealth and assets for their families while waging an impoverishing war in Somalia.

The efforts by international actors, coupled with local initiatives in Kenya and Somalia, to counter terror financing have choked Al-Shabaab’s revenue streams. Cornered, the group has resulted to desperate measures to make up for the dwindling proceeds. This includes an exploitative tax regime in areas under their control.

Al-Shabaab’s ‘taxtortion’ system operates a sophisticated racket. Civilians in areas under the group’s control are coerced into paying hefty sums under the threat of extreme violence and death. The militants impose several taxes—ranging from animal tax (xoolo) to agricultural produce (dalag), transit tax (gadiid) and general goods tax (badeeco), among others.

Flimsy cultural explanation

But the most notorious of the many taxes is jizyah. Though lacking a religious pretext or even a flimsy cultural explanation, the “special” tax is paid by everyone in Al-Shabaab-controlled areas. The name of the tax is controversial, considering that these territories are Muslim-dominated. The group has established a pseudo-governmental structure that tracks and collects these funds, with tax collectors who issue receipts to monitor payments.

Zakat, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, mandates Muslims to give a portion of their wealth to the needy. This sacred duty is designed to promote social welfare and economic justice. However, Al-Shabaab has cynically perverted this noble practice into a mechanism for extortion and enrichment of its leadership by doing the reverse: Exploiting the needy. Clan elders allied to Al-Shabaab keep thorough records of residents and their net worth, from which the group calculates the taxes payable by individuals. Not even people living with disabilities are spared!

The group’s forced collection of resources under the guise of religious obligations is not only a gross distortion of Islamic teachings but also grievous betrayal of the very people they claim to protect. Rather than distribute the collections to the impoverished and vulnerable, as Islam teaches, its commanders and senior leadership embezzle the resources, using them to bolster their own power and luxurious lifestyles.

High-end hotels

A case in point is that of Mohamed Khalaf, also known as Fuad Shongole, a senior member of the militant group. Last year, his eldest son, Lutrnan Warsame Farah, was arrested in Costa Rica for illegal entry into the South American country from neighbouring Guatemala and possession of fake travel documents. He was in possession of several thousand dollars in cash, gold items of unknown value and receipts from different high-end hotels.


As the patron of the family businesses, Farah is believed to have been moving the money and assets at the behest of his father, whose activities within the al-Qaida-affiliated group have earned him a $5 million bounty on his head by the US.

A fraction of the funds is channelled into maintaining and expanding Al-Shabaab’s militant operations. This, however, does not include payment of salaries. Al-Shabaab believes in maintaining an army of obedient radicalised peasants as the top commanders embezzle the ‘taxes’. The impact of this exploitation is more devastating for the civilian population. Communities struggling with poverty and instability are further disadvantaged by these practices. The racketeering practices deplete meagre resources of victims’ households, leaving them with barely enough to survive. This exacerbates food insecurity, malnutrition and economic hardship.

Ideological hypocrisy

The fear of retribution for non-compliance stifles dissent. Civilians are trapped in a vicious cycle of exploitation and fear, unable to challenge the oppressive demands of Al-Shabaab. The group’s brutal enforcement tactics include public executions and destruction of goods or property, which serve as a grim reminder of the consequences of resistance. By perverting Zakat into a tool of extortion and self-enrichment, Al-Shabaab desecrates a core tenet of Islam. Their actions expose their ideological hypocrisy and expose them for who they are—exploitative criminals with nothing to do with religion.

Addressing this issue requires concerted efforts by international and local actors. At the international level, continued support for Somalia’s federal government in Mogadishu and initiatives to combat Al-Shabaab are crucial. This includes tracking down their international financial links and investments. Locally, amplifying the voices of Islamic scholars and leaders who condemn Al-Shabaab’s misuse of Islam can help to reclaim the narrative and restore the true essence of most of the practices misused by the Islamists.

Security agencies must work closely with communities by providing easily accessible reporting mechanisms to expose Al-Shabaab activities in Somalia and elsewhere. Concerted efforts against the terrorists can weaken their stranglehold on the region.