This week, the European Union (EU) announced plans to boost financial support
to Mozambique in its fight against ISIS. According to EU officials, the €15
million in military aid will be allocated towards equipping forces on the
ground combating a resurgence by the terrorist group. During the first week of
September, ISIS-Mozambique fighters had claimed responsibility for an attack on
a missionary compound in the Nampula province of Mozambique, the country’s most
populous province. The attack was notable as it took place further south than
where insurgent violence had previously been concentrated. Since moving into
the Nampula, the group has claimed responsibility for the destruction of two
churches and over 120 homes.





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EU Announces Additional Military Aid To Combat ISIS Resurgence In Mozambique



(New York, N.Y.) —This week, the European Union (EU) announced
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plans to boost financial support to Mozambique in its fight against ISIS.
According to EU officials, the €15 million in military aid will be allocated
towards equipping forces on the ground combating a resurgence by the terrorist
group. During the first week of September, ISIS-Mozambique fighters had claimed
responsibility for an attack on a missionary compound in the Nampula province
of Mozambique, the country’s most populous province. The attack was notable as
it took place further south than where insurgent violence had previously been
concentrated
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. Since moving into the Nampula, the group hasclaimed
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responsibility for the destruction of two churches and over 120 homes.



To read the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)’s resource Mozambique: Extremism
and Terrorism, please click here
<[link removed]>.



Mozambique has responded to the ongoing insurgency with increased efforts to
combat ISIS-Mozambique, also known as Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah (ASWJ), throughout
the country’s north. In January 2022, Mozambican and Rwandan forces shot dead
Tuahil Muhidim, a Tanzanian Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah (ASWJ) leader responsible
for attacks in northern Mozambique. Days prior, the Mozambican Defense and
Security Forces (FDS) arrested a senior leader of ASWJ along with six other
militiamen after ASWJ forces ambushed Nangade district where they killed at
least five people and injured more than 200 others.



CEP Senior Director and former Coordinator of the U.N. Security Council’s ISIL
(Da’esh), al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring TeamDr. Hans-Jakob Schindler
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provision of the funds by the EU. “As ISIS seeks to increase its influence
using violent means, it is timely and necessary that the European Union decided
to provide additional military aid and funds to Mozambique following increased
terrorist activity in the country. ISIS has been developing into a major threat
in several regions of Africa, spreading from West Africa via the Sahel into
Central and Eastern Africa. If this development is allowed to continue
unchecked, the group has the ability to further destabilize the continent and
increase the overall capabilities of this global terror network. Therefore,
this situation is a concern beyond the African continent.”



ISIS-Mozambique’s attacks have killed at least 5,900 people and displaced more
than 946,000 people since October 2017.



U.S. officials have also provided counterterrorism support to Mozambique. In
2021, U.S. Special Forces began to train Mozambican troops to repel ISIS
forces. As part of the program, a dozen Army Green Berets trained Mozambican
marines for two months to better combat ISIS-affiliates. The U.S. has also
designated ISIS-Mozambique and ASWJ as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO)
and named Abu Yasir Hassan, the reported leader of ISIS-Mozambique, as a
Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).



To read CEP’s resource ISIS, please click here
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