Al Shabaab Taxes Drug Trafficking, now that Khat is an International Market

nalysts believe that this benign-looking plant popular in the Middle East may be funding the Al Shabaab terrorist organization in southern Somalia.

A very popular narcotic in the Middle East, khat maybe be funding the terrorist organization Al Shabaab in Somalia, CNN reports. Chewing the red stems of Catha edulis produces mild euphoria and an alertness akin to that produced by caffeine, and it is openly and widely use in the Horn of Africa. In Yemen, growing Khat uses more water than the country can afford and takes priority over more sustaining crops. Now Dutch officials are banning khat in the Netherlands, where a large Somali community imports large quantities of the plant from farmers in Meru County, Kenya. Government spokespeople insist that this decision was taken to protect against grave economic, health, and social concerns, but analysts believe that funds generated by the trade are funneled to Al Shabaab and that the Dutch aim to curtail that.

Crippled Kenyan farmers

CNN reports that the pending ban will have a devastating impact on Kenyan farmers. “If the ban is accepted or if it is enforced, the whole Meru county, the economy of the Meru county will be crippled,” Kenyan farmer Edward Mutuura told CNN.

He exports most of his crops to the Nertherlands and worries that the entire population of Meru county will be “totally crippled” if the ban goes through. Emmanuel Kisiangani of the Institute of Security Studies explained to CNN that legitimate business owners export their crops, but people sympathetic to Al Shabaab’s cause send money to them.

Meanwhile, a UN report details how the violent group receives funds by taxing khat that is exported to Somalia. Dutch officials deny any security motivations behind their decision to ban khat, which is illegal in the rest of Europe and the United States. It is still legal in the United Kingdom.

Enabling terror

People who abuse the narcotic are reported to become violent, suicidal, and may even experience manic episodes and hallucinations, and constant users tend to abandon their daily responsibilities, which leads to economic troubles in the home.

Jessica Lincoln and Frans Barnard told CNN that although intelligence agencies suspect links between the international trade of khat and terrorist organizations linked to Al Qaeda, it has proved very difficult to prove since it is hard to trace the money.

But an anti-khat activist based in the UK, Abukar Awale told the paper that Al Shabaab recruits young British addicts to facilitate parts of the multimillion trade and claims that if Britain does not ban imports and sales, they are effectively enabling terror in Somalia.
Tafline Laylin writes for GreenProphet, from where this article is adapted.

The Rest @ Cutting Edge News

Somali Khatt Smugglers Bring Underage Girls to Makhalis in Kenya for the Sex Trade

At least 50 girls, aged between ten and 15, are sold every week to tour operators and tourist hotels at Sh60,000 each as sex workers and to star in pornographic movies, a report claims. The report released on Tuesday by the International Peace Institute (IPI) says that the girls are trafficked or smuggled to Nairobi from North Eastern Province and Somalia.

The estimation of the number of girls smuggled per week comes from a non-governmental organisation Womankind Kenya, which is based in Garissa.

• "Vehicles that transport miraa  [also called khat, a narcotic weed chewed widely in Somalia] from Kenya to Somalia return loaded with young girls and women, who end up in brothels in Nairobi or who are shipped to Mombasa and destinations outside Kenya," the report says.
• The report titled Termites at Work: Transitional Organised Crime and State Erosion in Kenya was compiled by IPI executive director Mr Peter Gastrow.
• The report says the girls are taken to massage parlours or beauty shops, where contacts from tour operators and hotels come to select the ones they wish to take as sex workers.
• "Tour operators and hotel workers also operate as traffickers and brokers," the report alleges.
• The report says the trafficked children are then taken to scheduled villas in Mombasa where sex tourism thrives.

"The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has estimated that about 10,000 people are trafficked into Coast Province each year," the report says.

Mombasa is a destination for people trafficked from as far as Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

In Kenya, those who control the networks involved in trafficking of humans or smuggling migrants use supermarkets, foreign exchange bureaus and electronic shops as cover for the human trafficking business, the report says.

• The report claims that most traffickers are Somalis and those who head and control the network are known as makhalis.

Code of silence

• In Nairobi and Garissa, the report claims that some traffickers operate as travel agents for airlines. "They pay taxes for their legitimate businesses to ensure that they do not attract queries from Government authorities," the report says.
• The report claims that a code of silence exists among the makhalis and their agents and contacts. "Only other agents, brokers, corrupt senior police officers, and their lawyers know what they do behind their veneer of law abiding upright citizen," the report claims.
• There are at least five to ten makhalis in northern Kenya and in Eastleigh in Nairobi.

They each control a loosely structured network, which they run independently from each other.
By Athman Amran

The Rest @ Standard Media (Kenya)

Hizbul Islam Charging "tax' of Khat Trucks

Mogadishu (Alshahid) – The drivers of the vehicles that transport Khat (a stimulant leaves chewed by most Somalis) from Afgoye town to the capital Mogadishu complained about the money that Hizbul Islam militias take from them.

The drivers said that Hizbul Islam militias have several check points on the highway that connects Afgoye to Mogadishu and every militia group in those check points ask for money to allow the vehicles pass.

The Hizbul Islam police chief in Afgoye Mohamed Hassan Omar who talked to the reporters in Mogadishu denied the complains saying that only Somali Shilling 300 are taken from each vehicle and that amount goes to the road maintenance.

Mr. Omar said that any vehicle which doesn’t comply with the rules of Hizbul Islam will not use the road.

Khat, Miraa, Somali and Northern Kenya Addiction Growing

Nairobi — Every afternoon, Garissa town residents meet for a miraa (khat) chewing session. The twig is a way of life in this stuffy and sun bathed town.

"Miraa creates a social bond and keeps most of us away from crime and drug abuse," says Ahmeddin Nur. A group of young men high on the mild narcotic plant nod their heads in agreement.

But this is about to change if proposal to ban trade and use of miraa in the town becomes a reality.

In a recent workshop on Islam and health, more than 40 religious leaders backed the call to ban miraa in the district.

A potential showdown among traders, consumers and the leaders is looming. Miraa traders and lovers have vowed to demonstrate against the proposed move.

A farmer harvests miraa in Meru North. Muslim leaders want the sale and consumption of the crop banned in northern Kenya.

Although livestock is the chief source of income in the district, the twig provides an alternative for many families.

If the demonstrations go ahead, it will revive memories of similar confrontations in Somalia when residents rose against the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC.

In 2006, the Islamists banned khat and closed entertainment joints.

Street protests

These triggered street protests and the UIC, who had attracted goodwill for restoring order, found itself on a collision course with the people.

Three people were killed when UIC soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators.

Mama Zeinabu Abdi, a Garissa resident who has been in miraa business for the last five years, says it is the only source of income for her and other families.

"The business has made me educate my three children in secondary schools," she says at her miraa stall on Ngamia road. Mr Steven Mayak says he is supporting three school going children with the trade.

Religious leaders say they are not against the income generating trade per se.

"Miraa business has been used to aid trafficking and peddling of hardcore drugs like cocaine, heroin and bhang," the Garissa Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims (Supkem) leader, Sheikh Hussein Mahat, said while reading the resolutions.

Spread of HIV

Mahat said the drugs adversely affect the community by promoting immorality, poor performance in education and the spread of HIV/Aids.

The leaders also want sale of alcohol, condoms and video showing banned.

The North Eastern Provincial Medical Officer of Health Dr Osman Warfa said drug abuse is a big factor in the spread of HIV.

"The HIV prevalence rate in the town shot from 1.6 per cent to 2.6 per cent last year," he told the workshop. It is as a result of this revelation that the leaders proposed the ban.

Two days later, religious leaders met a section of youths to enlist their support.

This elicited mixed reactions from traders and consumers of the stimulant.

Mr Abdinassir Abdi, a taxi operator, said: "The ban is long overdue. It is time the future of the youths is protected. Many people have become useless and lazy as a result of drugs. I support the resolutions."

Miraa is an addictive plant and has taken toll on the socio-economic life of the province.

Activities in the province come to a halt in the afternoons when majority of the residents partake the stimulant.

Women traders

Some women complain that the shrub has contributed to breakdown of family values. "Men have abandoned their family roles and spend most of their income on the drug," Mrs Rukia Ali regretted.

Ironically, most of the miraa traders in the district are women unlike other parts of the country where men dominate the business.

They can be spotted at the dusty roadsides, mostly past midnight, selling the stimulant under a lantern lamp. Here, the lantern is a sign of a miraa outlet.

A report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicates that miraa trade is slowly overtaking livestock as the economic mainstay in this region. The twigs managed a near 5 per cent GDP growth in 2006.

In a province where alcohol is not consumed on religious grounds, miraa chewing is a favourite pastime.

A vehicle arriving with the twigs always stirs the sleepy villages. Not even the sweltering heat can stop women and men from scrambling for the stimulant.

When the delivery of fails, villagers become edgy and gloomy.

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A first time visitor here will be surprised by the sudden pandemonium of hooting vehicles and shouting announcing the arrival of miraa.

The driver of the miraa vehicle is usually accorded respect .

In the afternoons, it is common for major towns in Northern Kenya to be deserted, save the stray livestock.

Locals remain behind closed doors to chew miraa for several hours. The cross-legged residents also puff cigarettes and sip tea.

The effect of the stimulant is evident as they engage in animated talk. The dens become the region's parliament.

But this routine could be redefined if the religious leaders' proposal to ban the miraa takes effect.

The Rest @ AllAFrica