A businessman strongly linked to Shabaab has been a contractor for the World Food Program and UNICEF, a UN report said. He has pocketed $1.36 million ransom for the release of kidnapped aid workers, has been the financier of Shabaab in Baidoa and was involved in the looting of the UN compound, and is a “close associate” of atop Shabaab leader. Heavy fighting between insurgents and government troops in Mogadishu killed 43 people over two days.
