Banker and businessman Ali Ahmed Nur Jimale, who was placed on a United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
Security Council sanction list in February 2012, is accused of being "one of al-Shabaab
... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
's chief financiers", according to the U.N.
But Somali information minister Abdulahi Elmoge Hersi said a government committee had investigated the allegations and found no evidence for maintaining the sanctions.
"After long discussions, the Somali government decided that Ahmed Nur Jimale should have his embargo lifted to get his freedom back," Hersi told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We call on the international community to respect our decision," he said, adding that a formal request would be submitted to the U.N.
According to U.N. sanctions, Jimale is "ideologically aligned" with the Shabaab, who remain dedicated to overthrowing Mogadishu's government, which is battling the Death Eaters with the backing of a 17,700-strong African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
(AU) force.
Jimale is accused of the "funding of myrmidon activities and weapons purchases" specifically targeting self-declared independent Somaliland, as well as allegedly both raising funds for Shabaab fighters and helping them conceal their money transfers.
U.N. sanctions on the 59-year old financier -- who holds both Somali and Djiboutian passports -- include a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.
Jimale, whose business interests have included charcoal and sugar dealing as well as key stakes in banks and a mobile telephone company, is reported to have close ties to Shabaab factions now at odds with top commander Ahmed Abdi Godane.
But in the past two years the AU and government forces have clawed back control of a series of key towns, areas where businessmen like Jimale would previously have paid taxes to the fighters.
U.N. Monitoring Group reports last month estimated that the Shabaab are still some 5,000 strong, and remain the "principal threat to peace and security to Somalia."