The Economist - UK (2022-04-16)

The Economist April 16th 2022 MiddleEast&Africa 41

Financingterrorism

Following the money

D

efeatinginsurgenciesishardand

dangerous work. Most of all, according

to a book on the subject by John Nagl, a re­

tired  American  soldier,  it  requires  pa­

tience.  He  likens  it  to  eating  soup  with  a

knife.  That  makes  the  rapid  successes

achieved by a hotchpotch of African forces

against jihadists affiliated to Islamic State

(is)  in  northern  Mozambique  in  the  past

year all the more remarkable. 

The violent jihadist insurgency that has

engulfed  the  northern  Mozambican  prov­

ince  of  Cabo  Delgado  since  2017  had

claimed perhaps 3,200 lives by the middle

of 2021. Yet it attracted little outside atten­

tion  until  a  year  ago,  when  the  militants

swept  into  the  coastal  town  of  Palma,

where they killed dozens of people, includ­

ing several foreigners, and halted progress

on  a  huge  gas  project.  Soon  after,  Rwanda

sent the first of about 2,000 troops. These

were  followed  by  about  1,000  more  sol­

diers  from  eight  other  African  countries,

led  by  South  Africa.  In  short  order  these

forces  have  driven  the  insurgents  out  of

most of the province’s populated areas.

Yet even as South Africa earns praise for

battling jihadists in Mozambique, it is also

gaining a reputation as a hub and money­

laundering centre for jihadists from across

the continent. In March America’s Treasu­

ry  imposed  sanctions  on  four  people  in

South Africa accused of raising money and

recruiting  for  isactivities  and  branches

across  Africa.  The  American  action  cast

new light on the connections between is’s

core  in  Iraq  and  Syria,  which  has  suffered

crushing  defeats  in  recent  years,  and  its

growing networks in Africa.

In 2019 isreceived pledges of allegiance

from  two  rebel  groups  almost  2,000km

apart  that  seemed  to  have  little  connec­

tion:  the  insurgents  in  Cabo  Delgado  and

the  Allied  Democratic  Forces  (adf),  a

Ugandan outfit notorious for massacres in

eastern  Congo  (see  map).  These  affiliates

have  since  mounted  attacks  not  just  at

home but also in Tanzania and Uganda. 

Their  entrepot  is  South  Africa.  Police

sources there say that suspected members

of  the  adfand  other  jihadists  from  as  far

afield aswestAfrica andSomaliafreely

hobnobinthecountrywithlike­minded

locals.DozensofSouthAfricanswentto

SyriaandIraqtojoinisintheheydayofits

so­called caliphate. Among those who

triedtogoaretwinbrothers,Brandon­Lee

andTony­LeeThulsie,whowerearrested

inSouthAfricain 2016 andjailedthisyear

forterroristoffences.SouthAfricanshave

beenspottedamongthejihadistsinMo­

zambique,accordingtoSouthAfricanoffi­

cials.Somehavebuiltnetworksathome.

Take FarhadHoomer, abusinessman

fromthecoastalcityofDurban.America’s

Treasuryslappedsanctionsonhim,alleg­

ingthathehadestablishedandledanis

cellinDurbanandthathewasincontact

withtheadfinCongo.Itclaimedthathe

fundedhiscellbyraisingmorethan1m

rand($69,000)throughextortionandkid­

napping.Hedeniestheallegations.Also

placedundersanctionswasAbdellaHus­

seinAbadigga,anEthiopianwithalleged

linkstoisinSomalia,whomtheTreasury

accusedofextortingmoneyfrommembers

oftwomosquesinSouthAfrica thathe

senttoisgroupselsewhere.

Itisnotclearhowmuchmoneyflows

fromSouthAfricatoterrorgroupsbutoffi­

cials reckon it may add up to hundreds of

thousands  of  dollars  a  year.  Investigators

believe  that  a  good  chunk  of  this  money

comes  from  crime  of  one  sort  or  another,

possibly  including  drug  smuggling

(though  there  is  little  public  evidence  for

this). From South Africa it then takes many

paths. Police in Kenya, for example, recent­

ly arrested a middleman who had received

money from South Africa and sent it on to

suspected  militants  in  Mozambique  and

adfoperatives in Uganda. 

Counter­terrorism  officials  in  the  re­

gion  suspect  that  isis  using  its  money  to

buy the loyalty of radicals associated with

al­Shabab, the Somali affiliate of al­Qaeda,

is’s rival. Defections of al­Shabab loyalists

have “a lot to do with money”, says a Somali

intelligence  officer.  iscurrently  backs  an

al­Shabab  splinter  group  in  Puntland,

northern Somalia. uninvestigators moni­

toring the group have found evidence that

one of its commanders has visited Mozam­

bique to train insurgents there.

Cutting these financial cords will not be

easy.  South  Africa’s  security  institutions

are  poorly  run,  under­resourced,  riddled

with  corruption  and  infiltrated  by  crimi­

nals.  The  Financial  Action  Task  Force,  a

money­laundering  watchdog,  says  South

Africa has “failed to demonstrate that it is

effectively  identifying,  investigating  or

prosecuting terrorist financiers”. One frus­

trated  South  African  cop  following  the  is

money  trail  says  his  bosses  have  ignored

most  of  the  cases  he  has  sent  them.  “It

makes  it  harder  for  us  to  reallydiginto

where  all  the  money  is  beinggenerated

from in the first place,” he sighs.n

N AIROBI AND PRETORIA

How jihadists in Congo and Mozambique arelinkedtoSouthAfricanmoneymen

SOUTH

AFRICA

TANZANIA

RWANDA

KENYA

UGANDA

CHAD SUDAN

SOMALIA

ETHIOPIA

CONGO

Pretoria

Nairobi

Durban

MOZAMBIQUE

Kampala

Cabo

Delgado

Puntland

INDIANOCEAN

Jihadists,Jan222

Source:AEI’sCritical

ThreatsProject

Activeinsurgency

Low-levelinsurgency

Riskofcells

Attackcellspresent

1,000 km

If only the money trail were as clear