The Islamic State’s Central Africa Province—Mozambique

The Mozambican wing of the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province (ISCAP–Mozambique) is--along with the branch in the DRC--a component of the Islamic State’s newest province. The core of the ISCAP–Mozambique insurgency, locally referred to as “Al-Shabaab,” emerged in October 2017 from a longstanding Salafist sect that had become increasingly at odds with local religious leaders tied to the Mozambican state. A June 2019 claim by the Islamic State Central of an attack in Mozambique conducted by Al-Shabaab surprised many observers. With Al-Shabaab showing no former Al-Qaeda connections or sympathies, IS had not “democratized jihad” in the same ways that it had elsewhere on the continent. Nevertheless, what Al-Shabaab offered to IS Central was enough to achieve “affiliate utility validation”: in addition to offering strategic access to the Indian Ocean and proximity to a $50 billion natural gas project, the incorporation of ISCAP–Mozambique allowed for the impression that the Islamic State Central’s own reach was expanding into new theaters. The relationship between militants and the core group has remained far murkier than that of other affiliates, yet ISCAP-Mozambique appears to remain much more sovereign than subordinate, with its ties to IS Central remaining limited to propaganda output.