WASHINGTON, USA
The United States on Wednesday blacklisted two Islamist extremist groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique as foreign terrorist organisations over accusations of links to Islamic State (ISIS).
The Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF) in Congo and its leader Seka Musa Baluku and Mozambique’s Ahlu Sunnah
Wa-Jama and its leader Abu Yasir Hassan were also named “specially designated
global terrorists.”
The designations prevent travel
by members to the United States, freeze any U.S.-related assets, ban Americans
from doing business with them and make it a crime to provide support or
resources to the movements.
The United States dubbed the
groups ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique.
“The Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) announced the launch of the Islamic State Central Africa Province
(ISCAP) in April 2019 to promote the presence of ISIS associated elements
within Central, East, and Southern Africa,” the State Department said in a
statement.
“Although ISIS-associated media
portray ISCAP as a unified structure, ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique are distinct
groups with distinct origins,” it said. “These groups have committed or pose a
significant risk of committing acts of terrorism.”
The Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF), a Ugandan insurgent faction active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, has
committed a spate of brutal reprisal attacks on civilians since the army began
operations against it in late 2019.
The ADF has been blamed for the
killing of over 140 people since the start of the year, in almost weekly
attacks in Congo’s restive east. The group killed around 850 people last year,
according to U.N. figures.
Islamic State funding and recognition
has driven the ADF into a new phase of deadly expansion, said Laren Poole from
the Bridgeway Foundation, a U.S. based thinktank.
“We believe that targeting the
group’s financial and recruitment networks will provide the most effective way
to reduce the Islamic State in DRC’s capacity for violence,” Poole told
Reuters.
Some analysts, though, have
questioned links between the ADF and Islamic State.
“These new sanctions probably
won’t have much effect on the ground, just as the sanctions on ADF in 2014 changed
nothing,” said Dan Fahey, a former member of an independent group of experts
charged with monitoring U.N. sanctions on DRC.
“It is a symbolic act, and a bit
surprising because the group of experts has consistently downplayed the nature
and strength of the ISIS influence in Congo,” he added.
Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama, known in
Mozambique as Al-Shabaab, staged its first attack in 2017. First known mainly
for beheadings, the fighters declared allegiance to Islamic State in 2019 and
have since increased attacks in scale and frequency. - Reuters
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