ISIS uses Mozambique in media to develop its African presence

Terrorism derives its activity in any geographical focus from the fragility of the security system, the decline in the values of social cohesion, as well as the weakness of the political system, and then terrorist groups focus on the most influential of these factors in a society in order to penetrate its layers and build an armed network that fulfills deranged personal aspirations.

ISIS has relied on this methodology in its expansion in Mozambique in East Africa, where the country is experiencing political turmoil, paralleled by sectarian strife among the various classes of society, which gives the organization an opportunity to increase its spread in the region, mainly attracted by greed due its natural resources and strategic location.

Sectarian strife and ISIS media messages

ISIS focuses on exploiting the sectarian strife prevailing in Mozambique for several reasons, including strengthening its power and increasing the number of its affiliates, who find in this strife the misleading realities of false social and religious ideologies.

The terrorist organization is promoting its targeting of non-Muslims in the country via its media channels. In the ISIS magazine Al-Naba’ issued on February 3, the organization published pictures of burned houses, boasting about the displacement of Christians from their homes, as ISIS relies on that propaganda to create alleged religious reasons to fight, taking advantage of the country's internal turmoil.

Mozambique is one of the relatively recent hotbeds in which ISIS sought to position itself by wooing religious rebel groups in the country. In June 2018, the ISIS broadcast from Mozambique began with a video published of a group of elements declaring their allegiance to late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in October 2019.

Regarding the role of internal causes attracting ISIS, Ali Bakr, a researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said in a previous statement to the Reference that the fragility of the security system of these countries is the main driver of the spread of ISIS groups, in addition to international ambitions to obtain their precious resources.

ISIS media mechanisms and provinces in Africa

ISIS uses its media channels on social media to promote its alleged strength in African states, relying on it as a promotional target for the terrorist organization after the killing of its leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, on February 3 after he blew up himself and his family with an explosive belt when American forces surrounded his home in Syria.

It seems necessary for the African branches to remain in their terrorist position as sites to attract militants and highlight the extent of the organization’s strength during the current stage to show that the branches were not affected by Qurashi’s death, which is what the organization mainly depends on, as well as other terrorist organizations whose presence is not affected by the death of the organization’s leader.

For his part, Qurashi completed the strategy of his predecessor Baghdadi to expand among the African branches to extend the organization’s positions internationally, which raises questions about the theory of the organization’s potential leader towards these branches, which are expected to play dangerous strategic roles during the next stage in compensation for the relative decline suffered by the organization’s main stronghold in Syria and Iraq.

Recent days have witnessed discussions between ISIS elements and their sympathizers about the truth about the killing of Qurashi, and the most prominent witness in these discussions on social media is that one of them did not discuss the future of the organization after the death of the leader, but on the contrary, they skip the conversations and focus on their affiliation with the organization regardless of the new leader.