US designates two African armed groups as foreign terrorist organizations
March 16, 2021 Leave a comment
THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of state has designated two armed groups, based in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as foreign terrorist organizations. In a statement released last week, the US Department of State identified the groups as Mozambique’s Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama and Congo’s Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). In its statement, the US Department of State also said that the two groups have declared allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Established in Uganda in 1996, the ADF has had a presence in the eastern regions of Congo for over two decades. The ADF insurgency is rooted in regional ethnic rivalries. However, the group’s rhetoric became increasingly Islamist-centered in the 2000s. In 2013, following an intense recruitment campaign in Uganda, the ADF launched a series of attacks in northeastern Congo. It is currently involved in an insurgency against the Congolese military, which launched a major offensive against the group in 2019. Mozambique Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama, known locally as Al-Shabab (no relation to the Somali group by the same name), first appeared in 2017. Two years later, its leader, Abu Yasir Hassan, declared the group’s allegiance to ISIS and proclaimed that its goal was to establish an Islamic emirate in Mozambique.
US officials regularly refer to the two groups as “ISIS-DRC” and “ISIS-Mozambique”. In the spring of 2019, ISIS declared that the two groups were the armed wings of the so-called Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP). The militant group added that the mission of ISCAP was to build a caliphate in central, eastern, and eventually southern Africa. In addition to designating ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique as foreign terrorist organizations, the US Department of State named their leaders, Seka Musa Baluku and Abu Yasir Hassan, as “specially designated global terrorists”.
► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 16 March 2021 | Permalink
The head of military intelligence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was found dead on Friday, just hours before he was due to testify before the country’s National Security Council. General Delphin Kahimbi, Deputy Chief of Staff of the DRC Armed Forces, and director of its military intelligence wing, was facing accusations of involvement in an alleged plot to depose the country’s new President, Félix Tshisekedi.
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Congo accuses Rwandan spy cell of plot to shoot down president’s plane
January 4, 2023 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
The DRC has long accused Rwanda of training and equipping members of the so-called March 23 Movement (M23), who have been engaged in a decade-long conflict with the Congolese state in the North Kivu province. Since March of last year, DRC government forces have been engaged in a major offensive against the M23, but the rebel group continues to control several strategic towns and villages in North Kivu. Meanwhile, Rwanda has accused the DRC of using the offensive as a pretext to invade Rwanda. Late last year, the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) captured Congolese territory, in what authorities in Kigali described as an attempt to create a buffer zone between Rwanda and the DRC military offensive. In response, the DRC suspended a host of bilateral agreements with Rwanda and expelled the Rwandan ambassador from Kinshasa.
Last Thursday, the DRC’s Deputy Minister of the Interior, Jean-Claude Mandongo, posted a video on social media, announcing the arrest of several members of an alleged Rwandan spy ring. According to Mandongo, the spy ring consisted of two alleged Rwandan spies and two Congolese accomplices. The two Rwandans have been identified in DRC media reports as Dr. Juvenal Nshimiyimana and Moses Mushabe, who is allegedly a serving intelligence officer in the RDF. According to Mandongo, the two Rwandans were stationed in the DRC in a non-official-cover capacity, as employees of a humanitarian non-governmental organization called African Health Development Organization (AHDO).
Authorities in the DRC seem to believe that the AHDO serves as a proprietary cover for Rwandan intelligence, although they have provided no evidence for this claim. Officials in Kinshasa also claim that Rwandan spies are operating in other AHDO branches across the DRC. Statements from the Ministry of the Interior suggest that more arrests of alleged Rwandan spies are imminent. According to DRC officials, AHDO facilities were strategically located adjacent to the N’djili International Airport in Kinshasa, in order to monitor the movements of the presidential air fleet. In a report published on Tuesday, DRC authorities claimed that the alleged Rwandan spy cell planned to assassinate DRC President Félix Tshiskedi, by shooting down his presidential jet. The Rwandan government has rejected these claims.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 04 January 2023 | Permalink
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