Somalia:Hormuud telecom and Resurgent Al-Shabaab

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Somalia:Hormuud telecom and Resurgent Al-Shabaab

Paradoxically, the gradual revival of the Somali economy and increased funding has spurring Al-Shabaab's recent resurgence. Hormuud was adversely mentioned in a 2018 UN Security Council report as the financier of Al-Shabaab's deadliest terr

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Paradoxically, the gradual revival of the Somali economy and increased funding has spurring Al-Shabaab's recent resurgence. Hormuud was adversely mentioned in a 2018 UN Security Council report as the financier of Al-Shabaab's deadliest terror attack against civilians in Somalia's history. On October 14, 2017, the group detonated the largest vehicle-borne explosive device it has ever constructed (estimated at more than 1.2 tonnes TNT equivalence), killing as many as 582 people at Zoobe junction in Mogadishu.

"Somalia: Several killed in al-Shabab attacks in Mogadishu,” Aljazeera news, June 15, 2019; retrieved on September 8, 2019.

"Somalia: Many killed in al-Shabab attack in Mogadishu,” Aljazeera news, March 1, 2019; retrieved on September 7, 2019.

"Siege ends after deadly Al Shabaab attack in central Mogadishu,” FRANCE 24, March 1, 2019; retrieved on September 8, 2019.

"Car bomb attack in Somalia’s Mogadishu kills at least 11 people,” Aljazeera news, February 4, 2019; retrieved on September 7, 2019.

Omar Faruk, and Max Bearak, "If I don’t pay, they kill me’: Al-Shabab tightens grip on Somalia with growing tax racket,” Washington Post, August 30, 2019; retrieved on September 9, 2019.

Letter dated 7 November 2018 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea addressed to the President of the Security Council, UNSC, November 9 2018.

incriminating, the UN report stated that: "Two employees of the principal Somali telecommunications provider, Hormuud Telecom Somalia Inc., were also prosecuted in connection with the attack, for facilitating the entry of the large vehicle-borne improvised explosive device through the Sinka Dheere checkpoint on the outskirts of Mogadishu.” 89 In view of this, the mobile company has to take bold steps and publicly denounce every association with Al-Shabaab.

Attack on International Community

Figure 22: The Baledogle Base used to Train US Commandos

In September 30, 2019, Al-Shabaab staged a daring attack on the a military base at Baledogle airport in the southern Lower Shabelle region where US soldiers train commandos in Somalia. The Islamic militant group used a car bomb to blast through the gates before sending its fighters inside the base, about 100km (60 miles) west of the capital Mogadishu, which reportedly houses US special forces,

Hormuud Entrepreneurs and the Al-Shabaab Resurgence

Somali special forces and Ugandan peace-keepers. It is used as a launch site for US drones as well as being a training centre.

On October 13, 2019 Al-Shabaab militants fired six mortars in another daring attack on the heavily-guarded Halane area of the airport that houses the African Union and United Nations Mission in Somalia. The mortars landed inside the U.N. and AMISOM facilities , wounding seven people. Al-Shabab attacked the same facility with mortars earlier this year injuring two United Nations staff members and a contractor. The attack comes a day before the second anniversary of the truck bomb in Mogadishu, the deadliest terrorist attack in Somalia and in Africa, on October 14, 2017 that killed 587 people and injured hundreds of others.