Today, the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) announced joint designations of three ISIS facilitators in Africa. These individuals have played key roles as financiers and operatives for ISIS, supporting activities across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, and South Africa. This marks the eighth round of joint designations by the TFTC.
“Today’s joint action underscores our shared commitment to disrupting the ability of ISIS and other terrorist groups to access the international financial system wherever they seek to operate,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “The United States, along with our TFTC partners, remains resolved to target the terrorist groups, their financiers, and their facilitation networks that enable their deadly attacks and destabilizing activities around the globe.”
The TFTC was established in 2017 to enhance U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council coordination against terrorist financing. It focuses on coordinating joint disruptive actions like targeted sanctions, exchanging actionable information on terrorist financing networks, and providing capacity-building workshops.
One facilitator is Zayd Gangat from South Africa who acts as a trainer for ISIS. In South Africa, ISIS leaders have used robbery, extortion, and kidnap-for-ransom operations to fund their activities.
Hamidah Nabagala from DRC serves as an intermediary for ISIS financial flows in central Africa. She has been accused of funding a bombing in Kampala in October 2021 which resulted in casualties. Ugandan authorities arrested an operative funded by Nabagala in 2021. She also attempted to smuggle her children out of Uganda to send them to ISIS-affiliate camps.
Both Gangat and Nabagala were designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on July 23, 2024 pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 for materially supporting ISIS.
Since 2019, Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf has led an ISIS affiliate in Somalia. He played a significant role in delivering foreign fighters and supplies for ISIS-Somalia which acts as a hub for distributing funds across African branches. The group generated substantial revenue through illicit means totaling $2 million in early 2022 alone.
Yusuf was designated by OFAC on July 27, 2023 under E.O. 13224 for acting on behalf of or supporting ISIS-Somalia.
