CAMEROON, Cameroon — Banned charcoal exports from Somalia are thriving, generating millions of dollars a year for al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremists — and often passing through Iran to have their origins obscured, according to U.N. sanctions monitors. The main destinations are ports in Iran, where the charcoal — already falsely labeled as coming from Comoros, Ghana or Ivory Coast — is transferred from blue-green bags into white bags labeled “product of Iran,” the report says. Iran “has been a weak link in implementation” of the charcoal ban, the monitors said, adding that Tehran largely didn’t co-operate with their investigation. The monitors credited the UAE with seizing some Somali charcoal but said the Persian Gulf country didn’t “substantively engage” with their questions about the shipments allegedly made through Iran. But others, such as the Iran certificates, are “evidently issued through official channels,” the monitors said.

Source: National Post October 13, 2018 09:39 UTC