Mozambique
- 23rd Jan- three people were beheaded in an attack by ISCAP in Limualamuala in Nangade district.
DRC
- 23rd Jan- 3 Congolese soldiers were killed and others injured after they were attacked while on patrol in Luna village along the Beni-Ituri road in North Kivu province by militants with automatic weapons. Their weapons were seized in the attack.
- 24th Jan- at least 13 people were killed in an overnight attack by ISCAP in n the locality of Luna-Samboko, south of the territory of Irumu, in the province of Ituri
- 25th Jan- 5 people were killed by terrorists in Uwalele village in Irumu Territory in Ituri.
- 25th Jan- at least 12 people were killed by ISCAP militants in Mutuheyi and Mapendo villages IN Ituri province. Houses and motorbikes were also burned in the attack.
- 26th Jan- three people were killed in two villages in the Bashu chiefdom, south of the territory of Beni.
SOMALIA
- 22nd Jan- a Somali police officer was assassinated by ISS in the Karan neighborhood of Mogadishu.
- 24th Jan- two traders were targeted with fitted IEDs for failing to pay taxes to ISS in Bakara Market in Mogadishu.
ANALYSIS
Mozambique
According to intelligence information gathered from the various terrorists captured by security forces in December and January, the recurring theme is that ISCAP’s main objective seeks to give visibility and implant Islam in Mozambique. The group recruited people who had influence in the communities like business owners and sailors who would have no problem reaching as many people as possible and persuaded them to join the clandestine madrassa classes that bore the current insurgency. For instance, Using the narrative linked to poverty and lack of opportunities on the part of the government, as well as social exclusion, the group recruited about 300 people, in mid-2020, in the village of Pangane, in the Administrative Post of Mucojo, in the District from Macomia. The targeted people were children and youth who did not require any form of coercion as the narrative used by the group was sympathetic to the plight of the residents who did not have much faith in the government doubled with being idle.
This week, the SAMIM force faced further challenges in their fight against ISCAP in Mozambique as it was revealed that the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) troops could be forced to prematurely return home due to lack of funds. A total of 125 LDF soldiers were deployed to Mozambique in August 2021 as part of a SADC initiative to assist the Mozambican government in the fight against Islamic terrorists in the northern parts of the country. The revelation comes as the SAMIM mission was extended for another three months to aid Mozambique with the fight against ISCAP.
DRC
Intelligence out of DRC indicates that ISCAP has established new headquarters between Ituri and North Kivu fleeing the hunt of the Congolese and Ugandan armies in the territory of Beni. Locals have revealed that these rebels have settled in the Masesele and Mongali villages on the North Kivu side and Ituri between the Samboko and Mutweyi rivers.
There was a tripartite meeting between UN peacekeepers, Congolese, and Ugandan troops that was geared toward creating a smooth operation In North Kivu and Ituri provinces to enhance the success rates of COIN strategies and operations against ISCAP. The meeting was meant to split the areas of mission for every group to prevent overlapping and redundancy as the public sentiment has been agitated especially fuelled by the over eight-month state of siege in the region. ISCAP has also shown resilience and as such the security allies in the region ought to come together to systematically clear out the militants and their camps permanently.
Somalia
In a move that might exhibit its supremacy, the Islamic State Somalia (ISS) seems the group has been making serious inroads in the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab perceived areas of operations, one notably being, Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Traders have reportedly closed shops while others have removed signboards in order to remain unidentified following the surge in ISS activity in Mogadishu and the country’s largest Bakara market.
ISS has already embedded spies in the market who are collecting the details of the traders failing to pay taxes and subsequently ISS is coming hard on these traders. The situation is expected to worsen for the traders citing Al-Shabaab too demands its share with defaulters facing dire consequences.
