Bartamaha (Marka):- The Al Shabaab extremist group on Tuesday set fire to about 10 million Somali shillings (US$322.58) in a square in the Kuntuwaarey district of the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia, according to residents.
Sheikh Mohammed Abu Abdalla, Al Shabaab’s regional chairman, spoke at the spot, where hundreds of people congregated. He warned the crowd against using the shilling, newly printed by the Somali Transitional Federal Government, telling them “a suitable step will be taken against anyone who is seen having used it.”
Abdalla said the group’s fighters had collected what he called fake money from Somali businessmen in the district.
“Today we release owned burnt money businessmen from our jails and we telling them not to do such actions again,” he said.
However, Somali businessmen expressed a deep concern about what Al Shabaab had committed. They said the country is in a pretty pickle as the economy is very low.
Al Shabaab, which the United Stales alleges to be Al Qaeda’s proxy in Somalia, has been destroying the government currency in areas under their control.
On Jan. 11, the Somali government signed currency printing agreement with Sudan to deal with inflation and help stabilize the rocky economy of the Horn of Africa nation.
Somalia has had no an effective central government for 19 years. Regional and international efforts to install one have been undermined with rampant insecurity fueled by the Islamic insurgency.
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Source:-Allheadline News.
