His orange henna-dyed beard and striking eyewear would make him easy to pick out in a crowd, but Abdul Qadir Mumin has remained elusive.

The Somalian leader of the Islamic State (IS) group has in all likelihood risen to the status of strongman of the entire organisation, even if he lacks the official title, analysts say.

While observers wonder who is behind IS-designated caliph Abou Hafs al-Hachimi al-Qourachi – the would-be leader of all Muslims – or whether such a person actually exists, Abdul Qadir Mumin may already be running IS’s general directorate of provinces from Somalia.

“He is the most important person, the most powerful one, he is the one controlling the global Islamic State network,” said Tore Hamming, at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR).

In this opaque structure where the leaders get killed one by one by the United States, Mumin is among the few “senior guys who managed to stay alive the entire time until now, which does give him some status within the group”, Hamming told AFP.

A few months ago it was thought that an American strike had killed him. But since there was never any proof of his demise, he is considered to be alive and active.

“Somalia is important for financial reasons,” said Hamming. “We know that they send money to Congo, to Mozambique, to South Africa, to Yemen, to Afghanistan. So they have a good business model going.”

The transactions are so shadowy that even estimating the amounts is impossible – as is determining the exact routes the money takes from place to place.