As Al Shabaab and Islamic State expand in Somalia, a growing artisanal gold mining practice has become a key target for their Zakaawat (taxation) operations in North-eastern Somalia.  Thousands of Artisanal miners in the Golis mountains population center of Milxo have become their target for a new revenue stream, creating armed conflict in the area. Since the early 2008, the Golis mountain ranges has been an area of insurgency featuring the Puntland State Government of Somalia and the Al Qaeda affiliate, Harakatul Shabaab Mujahideen (HSM), commonly known as Al-shabaab.

A poor region of mainly nomadic pastoralists and frankincense harvesters, Golis mountains has in recent years become the focus of an insurgency by Alshabab, and counter insurgency by Puntland armed forces, and vigilante uprisings by clan militia against the Al shabaab. The violence has killed scores of people, including gold mine workers, Al-shabaab militants, and even members of the Puntland armed Forces.

One reason is because gold was found in the mountain ranges near Milxo, a village located 60 km away from Las khoray town in Sanaag region, Puntland. Originally established as a seasonal pastoral settlement, the finding of gold in the area attracted over 5,000 new families to the area, turning the once sleepy village, into a bustling small town of commercial activity. The current population in the village is estimated at almost 7,000 inhabitants, mostly mining, or dealing in the thriving gold trade in the village.

Gold Mining in Milxo

Mainly, there are two types of gold mining practices in Milxo village

1.    Surface (Open cast) mining: This is a process by which women and children go out to look for gold nuggets found at the surface of the ground or in alluvial deposits. In this type, they don't dig up anything but sometimes do basic panning to separate gold from sand. They sometimes crush quartz crystals with gold veins and separate quartz from the gold.

2.    Deep Cast: This is a process by which basic manually driven hand-tools are used by unskilled miners to dig deep pits ranging from 5-20 meters to retrieve gold ore. The gold ore is then transported and refined at a mill operated by a refiner/smelter who also happens to earn a percentage of the gold output for their services and have the right to purchase the rest of the gold yield from the miners.

We found that none of the miners had valid permits from the state government.

The mining process presents a number of workplace health and safety challenges to the miners. Miners have no mine engineers to help them plan safe mining operations and operate using rudimentary hand tools to dig the gold pits. They don’t have safety equipment and personal protective equipment to protect themselves from hazards during the mining activities.

"Accidents, especially, cave-ins are common in the mines,” said Omar, a gold miner. "There aren’t any health facilities in Milxo and injured persons have to be transported on poor roads to the closest health facility in Bossaso.”

Gold Output in the Milxo Area

It is hard to say how much gold the mines produce since the mining operations have stayed largely beyond the control of the government and there is a lack of statistics on gold output and export from the Milxo area mines. Most of the mines are places where the government forces are absent and the elusive Alshabab militia roam. However, a focus group discussion we held with miners and traders in the area, suggested that gold mines within the area of Milxo produce between them an estimated 300 kg of gold, worth 1.5 million USD, annually. 

Most of the Golis mountain’s informally produced gold is smuggled to the UAE black market from nondescript ports to avoid multiple export taxes from the Alshabab and the Puntland government, according to the miners we spoke to. The gold is refined and melted into bars in Puntland before smuggling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Al-shabaab campaign for command and control in Milxo

Besides attacking military and government targets within the mountain ranges and in the port city of Bossaso, the Alshabab militia have been campaigning to collect revenues from the million-dollar artisanal gold trade in the Milxo area.

"In 2019, they started with community mobilization campaigns in Milxo village, trying to canvas support for Alshabab administration and control of the mining operations,” a local resident told us, "The elders refused to collaborate with them in matters concerning the administration and control of the mining operations” Mohamed Haji Abdi, resident of Milxo.

According to a former SNA Sector 54 officer whom we talked to, after this rejection, the Alshabab resorted to aggressive military action.

"After talks with the community failed, the Alshabab launched a military campaign characterized by reinforcement of HUMINT operations, establishment of strategic forward operating bases in mountainous locations surrounding the village and attacking and occupying Milxo village to impose their will on several occasions,” Ex-major Abdirahman, a former superior officer with Army sector 54 HQ, who served in the Golis mountains said.

The ex-major also explained that the militants’ advance in Milxo has been a complicated one, carried out by highly mobile groups with bases in the neighbouring villages. The reported attacks have focused on Milxo village and extend towards 50 small-scale mines in the Milxo area as well as the village center.

The Al-shabaab units operating in the artisanal gold mining area are highly mobile, dismounted, and heavily armed. Moving on foot and carrying their supplies on donkeys, the armed Al-shabaab militia have managed to establish a taxation scheme on the gold mining in the area, despite the huge presence of Puntland and international counter terrorism troops in and around the Golis mountain ranges. 

Al-shabaab Zakaawat (Tax) Operations in Milxo

A sub-unit of the Al-shabaab, Zakaawat department is highly mobile and pays irregular visits to field sites and collects taxes from all entities involved in the artisanal gold mining and trade in Milxo village. This unit is provided human intelligence by clandestine Al-shabaab HUMINT personnel who mostly are embedded covertly at all levels of the gold mining and trade in the village. To conduct enforcement of their extortion policy, the Al-shabaab have heavily armed units based in mountainous villages and outposts surrounding the gold mines and along important supply and transportation routes supporting life in the village.

Using coercion and extortion, Al-shabaab has exploited the gold mining in Milxo.

Al-shabaab conducts direct mining activities and has about 100 miners working clandestinely in the area. This group also is the core of their human intelligence network that provides information on mining activities to their tax collection units.

They generate revenue from taxing gold ore output in the area. The ore prices have a high-end price of $35 USD/kg. Al-shabaab levies 30% of selling price on the miner or ore seller; Gold ore buyers are also taxed 40% of the cost price on all the ore purchases made by the refiners. It was impossible for us to find out the amounts that Al-shabaab makes from this annually.  

Future Outlook of the Crisis

Gold has always been a companion of insurgents, prized for its never-ending demand and value in marketplaces across the world.

For the Al Shabaab, the gold mines are a new revenue stream, conveniently located in their area of operation. This viable cash cow enables them to sustain their existing militia, fund new recruitment and purchase arms, explosives, and detonation devices to conduct IED operations.

The Al-shabaab has demonstrated capability to command, control, and conduct maneuvers in the Milxo area with ease and impunity, thanks to;

a)            The rough terrains in their chosen area of operation

b)            The financial, logistical, technological, and manpower limitations facing the Puntland government and its international partners

c)            Confrontations between Puntland and Somaliland in Sanaag region especially along their territorial boundary in the Golis mountains

d)            Limited institutional capability to regulate and control gold mining and illegal exports, as well as the prevalence of an huge market demand for gold in the UAE black market

e)            An ungoverned porous maritime border, which is easily accessible from the mountains.

If left unchecked, the illicit financial flows from the Milxo gold mines will provide the Al-shabaab with immense capabilities that will enable them to capture more land territory and eventually develop seagoing capabilities that will bring terror to the high seas and disrupt international maritime traffic travelling through the Bab-el-Mandeband the Gulf of Aden maritime routes.

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Abdirizek Abdikadir is Research Associate at the Horn International Institute For Strategic Studies, specializing in Governance, Security, Conflict Resolution and Peace processes in East Africa region and can be reached at via Email: [email protected]

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and does not necessarily reflect the editorial policy or position of the Horn Observer