Somalia – Al Shabaab continues to tax citizens to fund its attacks against the government

Mogadishu – Somalia 10/05/2019

Al-Shabaab movement continues to lay taxes on merchants, universities and other institutions in order to fund its assaults against the Somali government and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), which is backing the government forces. Hussein Muallem, the director of Heral Institute for Security Studies and former presidential adviser, said that he doesn’t believe this war will come to an end anytime soon, and said that the citizens are the ones paying the price for it. He added that the movement has all the essential elements for a hidden state, including an intelligence apparatus and fixed income sources, which helps it fund its criminal acts against the community and the state.