Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director and former Coordinator of the
U.N. Security Council’s ISIL (Da’esh), al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions
Monitoring Team Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler released the following statement today
applauding the U.S.





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CEP Applauds U.S. Designations Of Al-Shabaab’s Senior Leadership And Weapons
Network



(New York, N.Y.) — Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Senior Director and former
Coordinator of the U.N. Security Council’s ISIL (Da’esh), al-Qaida and Taliban
Sanctions Monitoring TeamDr. Hans-Jakob Schindler
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following statement today applauding the U.S. Department of State and the
Department of the Treasury fordesignating
<[link removed]> five al-Shabaab leaders
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al-Shabaab weapons trafficking network. The weapons trafficking network
included nine financial facilitators who served as intermediaries between the
U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and local companies in
Somalia.



“In recent years, al-Shabaab has taken advantage of Somalia’s political
instability, allowing this terrorist organization to solidify its position in
Somalia and expand across East Africa. With the added backing of al-Qaeda,
al-Shabaab transformed Somalia and, to a certain extent, also East Africa into
an active terrorist zone. The measures taken by the U.S. government are a
positive step forward in rolling back al-Shabaab’s capacity to launch attacks
and further destabilize the region.



“By targeting al-Shabaab’s financial network, the Biden Administration is
demonstrating that combating the group extends beyond recent military action,
including airstrikes and the deployment of U.S. Special Operations forces.
Tightening the physical and financial pressure against al-Shabaab is crucial in
stabilizing Somalia and, by extension, East Africa.”



Among the five designated senior leaders are Mohamed Mire, Yasir Jiis, Yusuf
Ahmed Hajj Nurow, Mustaf’Ato, and Mohamoud Abdi Aden. Mire is responsible for
the group’s interior wing and oversees the group’s activities; Jiis serves as
the commander of Jabha, the group’s armed wing; Nurow is the chief of Amniyat,
al-Shabaab’s intelligence wing that is vital in conducting suicide attacks; Ato
is a senior Amniyat official; and Aden is the leader of the cell that planned
the 2019 DusitD2 Hotel attack in Kenya that killed 22 people.



Dr. Schindler continued: “Using targeted sanctions is an often overlooked
instrument in the counterterrorism toolbox. Disrupting terrorist organizations
operational functioning by cutting key facilitators off from access to the
formal financial system and hindering their international travel movements can
be an effective tool, in particular when dealing with large scale
hierarchically organized groups like al-Shabaab. The operational efforts
necessary to rebuild facilitation networks and finding new talent, following a
sanctions decision, not only slow a terrorist group down but also offer new
intelligence gathering opportunities.”



To read CEP’s resource Somalia: Extremism and Terrorism, please click here
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To read CEP’s resource al-Shabaab, please click here
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