The United States (US) Treasury Department is, according to a statement, “taking action” against three people associated with expanded activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on the African continent.
They are key financiers and trusted operatives, enabling ISIS activities and those of its leaders across central, eastern and southern Africa.
ISIS cells in South Africa rate a specific mention along with neighbouring Mozambique, Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where a three-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission is attempting to curb rebel violence. The cells and countries are said to be “critical links” between far-flung ISIS operations, including those in Africa.
“The action [of designating the three ISIS agents] underscores crucial work of the Counter ISIS Finance Group and the importance of effective information sharing among Coalition countries to target ISIS’s facilitation networks. While we have made considerable progress over the nearly 10 years since the establishment of this working group, we must remain vigilant because ISIS continues to develop new financial methods. The US, in co-ordination with our key partners, remains committed to disrupting key nodes that enable disparate ISIS groups to work together and their ability to finance the group’s terrorist activities,” the Treasury Department statement reports Under-Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E Nelson as saying.
The designations are aimed at the threat ISIS poses to regional security and stability in central, eastern and southern Africa. Treasury targeted ISIS efforts to expand operations and raise funds in Africa with designations of South Africa-based ISIS operatives, financial facilitators, and their business networks in March and November two years ago as well as designation of a key Somalia-based ISIS finance official in July last year. The individuals sanctioned are designated pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 13224, as amended, which targets terrorist groups and their supporters.
They are listed as Abubakar Swalleh, Zayd Gangat and Hamidah Nabagala.
Swalleh, the statement reads, is a South Africa- and Zambia-based ISIS operative involved in the physical transfer of funds from South Africa to DRC. He also facilitates the movement of ISIS-affiliated individuals from Uganda to South Africa and vice versa. Mohamed Ali Nkalubo, DRC-based ISIS commander previously designated by the Department of State, relies on Swalleh to move funds and recruit members for ISIS’s DRC affiliate, the US Treasury said. Swalleh moved to South Africa under Nkalubo’s direction, where he was involved in robberies and kidnap for ransom activities.
Gangat is a South Africa-based ISIS facilitator and trainer. ISIS leaders in South Africa have historically used robbery, extortion, and kidnap for ransom operations to generate funds for the group, according to the US Treasury.
DRC-based Nabagala is as an intermediary for ISIS financial flows in central Africa. Additionally, Nabagala is accused of funding the October 2021 Kampala bombing, which killed one and injured at least three others. In 2021, Ugandan authorities arrested an ISIS operative who received funding from Nabagala. She attempted to smuggle her three children out of Uganda to send them to ISIS-affiliate camps in DRC.
As a result of the 23 July designation, all property and interests in property of Swalleh, Nabagala, and Gangat, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons, must be blocked and reported to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Engaging in certain transactions with these individuals entails risk of secondary sanctions.
