ISIS is raising its ugly head once again in Africa

 
Africa has emerged as the global epicenter of the Islamic State (ISIS) network, with its affiliates conducting the majority of the group's attacks worldwide. Following the loss of its territorial "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, ISIS core leadership shifted its focus to expanding in Africa, where it exploits local grievances, political instability, and weak governance to recruit and gain ground. ISIS is reportedly reorganizing in Africa.

Primarily operating in the Lake Chad Basin (Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad), ISWAP is the largest and most active ISIS branch, with an estimated 8,000–12,000 members. It is an offshoot of Boko Haram and is known for producing a significant volume of ISIS propaganda.

Musty salt air crept at dusk over the nets and moored boats on northern Mozambique’s coast as seven armed and uniformed men marched into the fishing community last month, demanding the keys to the mosque, reports CNN.

Once inside, they commanded – over the microphone used for the call to prayer – that locals on the edge of the port town of Mocimboa da Praia come to listen.

It was only when they unfurled an ISIS banner, the mosque’s imam Sumail Issa told CNN, that it became clear who they were. Also palpable was the new-found confidence of the jihadists, emerging in recent months after the chaotic collapse of US aid funding to one of Africa’s poorest countries.

“When they called everyone over, as soon as they saw that flag, a colleague and I left, saying we needed the toilet,” Issa said, adding they went to notify the military. The men’s faces were exposed, video posted to social media reveals, and the speech one of them gave was considered – delivering a highly localized manifesto, showing both ambition and independence from other ISIS franchises, analysts have noted.

Locals didn’t flee but attentively filmed, the social media video shows. ISIS had made their point about where they could roam, unopposed.

Mozambique’s gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado region has been ravaged by eight years of killing and land grabs. The insurgents seized control of this coastal town from August 2020 to August 2021, resulting in significant displacement and damage. Four years followed during which Mozambican and Rwandan forces – acting under invitation from Maputo – restored partial order, and Western governments surged aid into the region. Many of those who had fled the violence returned.

However, the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) under an executive order from US President Donald Trump in January cut some assistance entirely, and drastically reduced other programs, some of which were aimed at boosting the central government’s presence and curbing extremism.