Flows from South Africa to Terror Groups May Add Up to Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars a Year

As South Africa earns praise for battling jihadists in Mozambique, it is also gaining a reputation as a hub and money-laundering centre for jihadists from across the continent. In March America’s Treasury imposed sanctions on four people in South Africa accused of raising money and recruiting for is activities and branches across Africa. The American action cast new light on the connections between IS’ core in Iraq and Syria, which has suffered crushing defeats in recent years, and its growing networks in Africa. Take Farhad Hoomer, a businessman from the coastal city of Durban. America’s Treasury slapped sanctions on him, alleging that he had established and led an is cell in Durban and that he was in contact with the adf in Congo. It claimed that he funded his cell by raising more than $69,000 through extortion and kidnapping. He denies the allegations. Also placed under sanctions was Abdella Hussein Abadigga, an Ethiopian with alleged links to is in Somalia, whom the Treasury accused of extorting money from members of two mosques in South Africa that he sent to is groups elsewhere.

SOURCE: THE ECONOMIST