Al-Qalam 
[CCTV footage at the Mall of Africa in Johannesburg on December 29 shows the last time Abdella Abadigga was seen]
Did the FBI abduct Ethiopian businessman with help from SA
An Ethiopian man has turned to the court to find his brother Abdella Hussein Abadiga, who was abducted in Johannesburg. In March last year, Abadiga was flagged by the US as having ISIS links, writes Nabeelah Shaikh.
An Ethiopian national living in Johannesburg is on a mission to find his brother’s abductors and has slammed South African authorities for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping.
Abdurahim Hussein Abadiga has turned to the Johannesburg High Court to get answers after his brother, Abdella Hussein Abadigga and Kadir Jemal Abotese, who was his brother’s bodyguard, were kidnapped from the Mall of Africa on December 29.
His brother, Abadiga, has been shrouded in controversy after he was flagged by the US Department of Treasury in March 2022 for allegedly being an Islamic State (ISIS) funder.
He was placed under U.S Treasury sanctions with Tanzanian national Peter Charles Mbaga and South Africans Farhad Hoomer and Siraaj Miller.
The U.S Department of Treasury claims Abadiga has recruited young men in South Africa and sent them to a weapons training camp. In the court statement, the U.S Treasury claimed Abadiga controlled two mosques in South Africa and used his position to extort money from members of the mosques.
“Abadiga sent these funds via a hawala to ISIS supporters elsewhere in Africa. Bilal al-Sudani, a now killed US – designated ISIS leader in Somalia, considered Abadigga a trusted supporter who could help the ISIS supporters in South Africa become better organised and recruit new members,” the statement read.
American
But Abdurahim maintains the US’s claims against his abducted brother are untrue. He strongly believes that his brother was kidnapped by members of the South African National Defence Force, and due to the alleged terror links, they are working with American authorities.
“My brother has never faced any criminal charges in South Africa, and to hear that he was involved in terrorism-related activities was a big shock to us. He is a businessman and has been living in South Africa since 2004. We never really bothered about what the US said about him at the time, because if he was a criminal, South African authorities would have taken action against him,” said Abdurahim.
He said Abdadiga’s abduction has caused immense stress to him, his family, and the community, and he wants transparency from authorities.
“We are having sleepless nights, just trying to get answers about what has happened to him. My brother was well known in the community and the lack of information from authorities is unacceptable,” said Abdurahim.
In court papers seen by Al-Qalam, Abdurahim is demanding that Abadiga and Abotese be released from custody or placed before a court of law, in the event that any charges are to be preferred against them.
He brought an urgent application against the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, the President of SA, the Minister of Police, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mall of Africa, Peters Communication Trust Pty (Ltd) and Herbert Dilebogo Mashego,
Aburahim says he was in Ethiopia when his brother was kidnapped.
“I had to quickly return to South Africa after learning of his abduction and I lodged a missing person’s case five days after my brother was abducted,” said Abdurahim.
In court documents, it was revealed that CCTV footage was collected from Mall of Africa cameras showing several men driving vehicles with number plates allegedly registered to SANDF-linked company, Peters Communications Trust, leaving the parking lot around the time of Abadiga’s disappearance. Abdurahim alleges his brother was also arrested in a roadblock, around the time that the Sandton terror threat came to light in South Africa, last year.
The US government announced that it had received information that terrorists may be planning to conduct an attack targeting large gatherings of people at an unspecified location in the greater Sandton area of Johannesburg on 29 October 2022.
U.S officials said at the time that there was no further information regarding the timing, method, or target of the potential attack.
Abdurahim says Abadiga was coming back from a holiday in Cape Town when he was targeted.
“I know this because I sent a lawyer to him at the police station. There was a big argument between South African police officers and what I believe were Americans from the FBI, who I was told, were on scene during the roadblock. The Americans were pushing for him to be arrested and the South Africans did not want to arrest him. He does not have a criminal record; he is not even a wanted suspect for anything here, but the Americans were insisting he had to be arrested. After this altercation between the two parties, they found out his asylum or refugee papers had expired, and they pushed to get him arrested. He could hear their accents. The FBI also visited him multiple times while he was being held at the police station,” claimed Abdurahim.
Abdurahim says he and his family just want answers and they will now let the law take its course in trying to get to the bottom of Abadiga’s abduction.
