Illegal Somali charcoal exports fuel Islamist rebels, warlords

Illegal exports of Somali charcoal earned al Shabaab militants tens of millions of dollars in the past year and also financed violations of an arms embargo by clan-based militia that could fuel warlord tensions, U.N. investigators said in a new report.

The Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group, which oversees compliance with U.N. sanctions on the two countries, said it had counted 161 vessels exporting charcoal from Somalia's southern ports of Kismayu and Barawe between June 2013 and May 2014.