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UN Security Council adds three Shabaab leaders to sanctions list

Storyline:National News, Security

GOOBJOOG NEWS|NEW YORK: The UN Security Council has added three senior Al-Shabaab militants to its sanctions lists following a resolution adopted Friday.

The group deputy leader Abukar Ali Aden aka Ibrahim Afghan leads the pack of three. According to the list, Aden was born at about 1971, 72 or 73 but there is no particular reference to where he was born. The Council accuses Aden of ‘Engaging in or providing support for acts that threaten the peace, security or stability of Somalia’ and threatening the country’s security including attacks on Somali and Amisom forces.

Adan is also associated with Al-Qaida affiliates, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP ) and Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the resolution reads in part.

Somalia’s intelligence agency, NISA said last August Aden had been handed over power’ temporarily’ by the group leader Ahmed Diriye Abu Ubaidah following ill-health.

“Because of health concerns, the power of militant group Al-Shabaab has been temporarily transferred to Abukar Adan, his deputy leader,” the agency said in a tweet.

The move by Ubaidah is reported to have resulted in a struggle with a wing led by a long-serving Al-Shabaab operative Mahad Karate.

Aden who was appointed deputy group leader in 2018 was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US State Department on January 4, 2018.

US WELCOMES MOVE

Ambassador Erica Barks-Ruggles a Senior Bureau Official of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs welcomed the move by the Security Council.

“The United States applauds the UNSC for sanctioning al-Shabaab leaders Abukar Ali Adan, Maalim Ayman, and Mahad Karate, individuals responsible for numerous acts of terrorism. This is an important step towards stability, prosperity, and peace for Somalia.”

Second, on the list is Maali Ayman the founder of and leader of Jaysh Aymanan al-Shabaab unit known for conducting attacks and operations in Kenya and Somalia.

According to the Security Council, Ayman helped with preparations for the 5 January 2020 attack on Camp Simba in Lamu County, Kenya which resulted in the deaths of three US military personnel and contractors.

Mahad Karate who is known for leading the attack at Garissa University in Kenya which killed 150 students in 2015 has also been added to the list. He is a key figure in the intelligence wing of Al-Shabaab called Amniyat. The US government put a $5 million bounty on Karate’s head in 2015 for his role in the Garissa University attack.

Karate was born between 1957 and 1962  in Hararadheere, Somalia according to the UN Security Council.