Description: Militants affiliated with the Mozambique offshoot of ISIS conducted a ground assault on the town of Mocimboa da Praia, located approximately 80 kilometers from the disputed gas project in the country led by the French oil giant TotalEnergies. The terrorists were confronted by the joint anti – terrorism force led by Mozambican and Rwandan forces in the country, however, they managed to kill two civilians. Attacks from ISIS affiliates in the country have recently escalated, as the group is engaged in a consistent armed rebellion against the Mozambican government since 2017. The key point of confliction has been the Cabo Delgado coastal province where key trade ports are located, and TotalEnergies is developing a $20 billion LNG (liquified natural gas) project.
Impact: The coordinated terrorist insurgencies across eastern Africa signal the wider operational capabilities that ISIS currently possesses and signals upcoming escalation of terrorist attacks on the continent. Coupled with activities from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the DRC, the Islamic State Mozambique or ISM, significantly increased the number of targets in recent months, successfully disrupting key projects such as TotalEnergies’s $20 billion LNG offshore project in Cabo Delgado. The insurgency has been active since 2017 as the country has struggled with receiving UN sponsored humanitarian aid, contested elections in Jan and limited capacities of the joint counterterrorism force with Rwanda. The clout of influence that ISIS exercises across Africa indicates that with the absence of a unified anti-terrorism front, the group would expand operations substantially inserting itself within countries were state security mechanisms are depleted and with limited capacities.