Authorities in Somalia’s Puntland region this week banned the illegal entry of foreigners and ordered telecom companies to deactivate SIM cards linked to undocumented people and Islamic State terrorists.
The moves are an attempt to disrupt Islamic State financial networks as the military continues an offensive against IS fighters hiding out in the region.
Authorities recently launched military operations against IS fighters in the Alimiskaad and Al-Madow mountains in Puntland’s Bari region. Security forces seized camps and defensive positions and pushed the fighters further into the mountains.
Security agencies have also started a crackdown on undocumented people in Puntland. According to local reports, authorities made more than 300 arrests in the operation.
Meanwhile, Puntland’s Ministry of the Interior has issued a directive banning the sale of SIM cards to undocumented people and barring them from opening financial accounts without proper identification.
Abdirahman Yusuf Farah, a former intelligence chief of Puntland, said that security agencies will not violate people's rights in their pursuit of members and supporters of IS and that anyone who has entered the Puntland region legally will be respected.
The International Crisis Group, in a report released in December, said Islamic State’s Somalia branch was becoming influential in dispersing money to finance terrorism elsewhere in Africa.
The group extorts civilians and businesses to finance its operation and sends money to other IS affiliates.
Omar Mahmood, a senior researcher at the International Crisis Group, said the IS threat is growing.
"It's not just about the Islamic State in Puntland or in Somalia itself, but the group there serves as a connective node for Islamic State affiliates elsewhere in Africa — in Eastern Africa, in Southern Africa,” Mahmood said. “They report to the Islamic State in Puntland, and that serves as a connection to the Islamic State core and other affiliates outside of the continent."
Mahmood said Puntland is trying to block the local IS’s access to international banking systems.
"The group has focused on developing its financial capabilities, whether that is extortion in Bosaso and then transferring this externally,” he said. “They've really developed that particular niche, much more so than operational capacity. Puntland is trying to crack down on the use of their formal systems, whether that is the banking sector or telecom, to make it harder for the group to continue to, one, generate financially, and two, then send that money outside of Puntland.”
Puntland is relatively peaceful compared to southern Somalia, but local officials have grown concerned about the Islamic State’s rising strength, fueled by foreign fighters. Authorities are seeking international financial and military aid, including air support.
