Mogadishu (Halbeeg News) – The US is designating Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the head of finance for ISIS-Somalia, according to a statement Thursday by the State Department.
The financier has been targeting businesses and financial institutions at times mobile money transfer firms, in a bid to raise revenue to support the group’s activities.
“The United States is designating Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the head of finance for ISIS-Somalia, an ISIS affiliate in Africa that generates revenue ISIS distributes across the continent,” read the statement in part. “ISIS-Somalia engages in extortion of financial institutions, local businesses, and mobile money service providers, exploiting vulnerabilities in Somalia’s institutions to finance its activities, including through mobile money and hawala.”
The US is committed to using its authority in support of the Somali government and its efforts to counter terror financing activities that undermine Somalia’s national security and threaten regional stability.
ISIS was formed in 2015 by former fighters of al-Shabaab, who deserted the group following disagreement with the top leaders of Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda affiliate group, which mainly operates in south and central Somalia.
The group leader and founder Abdulkadir Mumin, also a former Al-Shabaab cleric pledged his allegiance to the then IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2015.
In 2016, the U.S. State Department designated Mumin, a former preacher based in the UK as a global terrorist.
The group has its headquarters in Galgala mountains in Bari region but has made headways into southern Somalia.
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