ISIS Continues to Grow in Africa

After the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria(ISIS) lost control of their caliphate in late 2017, many people hoped that the group would no longer be able to attack innocent civilians. This proved to be a short lived dream as the organization quickly moved its operations and money to smaller affiliates groups that had been acting for several years. Groups in the Philippines, Egypt, and Libya had all already been conducted limited attacks against civilians.

Since the fall of the final strongholds in the Middle East, ISIS has seen a resurgence through their distributed network across Africa. With cells in Nigeria, Mali, and DRC all growing in strength and ability. The Islamic State West Africa Province is probably the strongest and most active of the ISIS affiliates today. They operate out of Northern Nigeria, after splitting from Boko Haram. They have been able to cause mass devastation throughout much of Nigeria, and parts of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The Islamic State Central African Province, is a growing cell that is based out of DRC. It is unclear when the group first formed in the region, but is believed to have amalgamated from two separate jihadists groups, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) out of DRC and al-shabab out of Mozambique. Since their first claims of attacks in 2019, they have been able to displaced tens of thousands of people in northern Mozambique and kill hundreds in eastern DRC.

With these groups and others continuing to operate in Africa, it is hard to believe that ISIS will be completely defeated anytime soon. As these groups grow, Christians throughout Africa will be in greater danger of persecution and suffering at the hands of these violent organizations. This is especially true during the holiday season that we are currently in. Please pray for these groups to have a change of heart and for peace to come to Africa.