Africa Dispatch: Jewelry for Jihad

MOGADISHU—"We want your assistance with the Jihad!" boomed a voice through a megaphone mounted on a slow-moving car. "Donate your belongings and jewelry to help Islam be victorious!" So goes the latest fundraising effort by al Shabaab, the militant group in Somalia that claimed responsibility for last month's bombings in Uganda, which killed 76 people, including one American. It's now waging a war against African Union peacekeepers that back the beleaguered Somali government, and it sees the holy month of Ramadan—a time when Muslims demonstrate their devoutness with donations to charities and the poor—as an opportunity to separate people from their valuables. On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, armed militants carried cloth sacks through the streets of Mogadishu, Kismayo and Baidoa towns. They demanded money from traders. They insisted women hand over jewelry. They asked fuel dealers to donate gasoline. And in case anyone missed the message of mandatory donations, militants drove through the streets with electronic megaphones mounted on vehicles. "We shall intensify the jihad against the apostates and the unbelievers," vowed an al Shabaab official in Baidoa, according to residents there who were reached by phone. Two al Shabaab spokesmen declined to comment on the group's finances. Another al Shabaab member confirmed that the group was collecting taxes, but refused to speak further on the issue. The aggressive fundraising drive suggests the militant group may be struggling to raise the money, but its finances remain murky and the Uganda bombings demonstrate that it's able to marshal sufficient resources to carry out low-tech suicide bombings. Al Shabaab already collects taxes from residents and shopkeepers in areas it controls, which includes most of southern and central Somalia. The country's mostly-impoverished residents chafe at such demands, but those who refuse are harassed and often killed. The militant group also raises money outside the country from unknown sources. According to a recent United Nations report, some of those funds are funneled through Eritrean embassies in neighboring countries, and then sent to the militants in Somalia. The current fundraising effort comes as al Shabaab is bracing for a tougher fight. The African Union has pledged to send at least 2,000 more troops to suppress the Somali militants. The militant group normally steps up its attacks during Ramadan, which begins next week. In the wake of the bombings in Uganda, al Shabaab has achieved a new level of prominence. It's no longer considered a Somali satellite of global terror network al Qaeda, but is seen as a major threat in its own right to security in East Africa. Such prominence hasn't ended the practice of jihadi shakedowns, though. Some business owners in the three Somali towns said they were handed slips of paper with a sum written on it. "They (rebels) came to us with sacks and told us to put in some money," said a man who gave his name only as Sabriye, who runs a grocery store in Mogadishu's Bakara market, the largest open-air trading center in the country. "They tax us, shake us down, and are still ordering us to pay money for fighting," said the shop owner, who handed over $50. Nurto Abdi, who sells costume jewelry in Baidoa, an al Shabaab-controlled town west of Mogadishu that once housed the federal parliament before it was overrun by militants, said he was ordered to donate 20 grams of gold. "I have contributed for my security, because if I refuse, it will cause problems," said Mr. Abdi. Once these towns have paid up, al Shabaab is expected to move on. Already, traders and residents in smaller towns have been told to prepare their donations by Saturday. Abdinaser Mohamed Source: WSJ

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