42: Tom Keatinge, "The Role of Finance in Defeating Al-Shabaab”, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Whitehall Report 2-14, December 2014, p.1.

In 2019, it is projected that the group’s income will increase to about $73 million dollars.

43 This is as a result of two factors. The group has tightened its dreaded and brutal taxation regime in the capital (Mogadishu) and other regions under its control in Somalia. The coming to power of President Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo) in February 2018 has also seen Al-Shabaab expand its overall revenue to an all-time high. As of mid-2019, its revenue was estimated to stand at over $300 million dollars per year!

 A resurgent Al-Shabaab requires a constant flow of finances to fund its operations. The group has established and oiled an intricate and elaborate revenue collection system that manifestly dwarfs that Figure 9: President Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo of the Federal Government of Somalia in its reach, effectiveness and ruthlessness. 

The militant group needs millions of dollars every year to fund its programmes of radicalizing, recruiting and training fighters as well as paying and feeding them. It needs to fund its ambitious intelligence wing, Amniyat, in its gathering of intelligence from institutions of the Federal Government, Federal States, AMISOM, Somalia’s neighbors, foreign governments and international agencies. It also need to procure state of the art weapons, ammunition, explosives, vehicles and other warfare materials. Finally, it has to pay for its elaborate publicity and propaganda network and platforms.

The group draws its finances from diverse revenue streams, including taxes, contrabands and involvement in nine revenue streams. These include illegal trade in Charcoal;  smuggled sugar; illegal trade in arms; diverting and taxing humanitarian assistance by international agencies; and other minor sources of funds including piracy, smuggled ivory; ransoms from kidnappings, donations mostly from the diaspora community, and self-financing from members especially among their leadership and the presence of AMISOM forces, charcoal remains an important source of Al-Shabaab revenue. However, the Actual records on the amount of revenue the Al-Shabaab earns from illegal charcoal trade is not available but going with the estimate, the militant group collects significant amounts to sustain their insurgency operations in Southern Somalia.