US designates African ISIS groups as foreign terrorists; freezes assets, prohibits business with them

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The US State Department announced Wednesday it has designated two Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates in DR Congo and Mozambique as foreign terrorist organizations: it has frozen all US property and assets in their names, and has prohibited Americans from conducting business with them or providing material support to them, UPI reports.

Known also as ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique respectively, the Allied Democratic Forces in the DRC and Ansar al-Sunna in Mozambique are now listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, accused by the US of committing terrorist acts and murdering civilians.

While the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced in 2019 that it was launching the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) to promote ISIS in Central, East, and Southern Africa, the State Department said in a statement Wednesday that ISIS-DRC and ISIS-Mozambique are “distinct groups with distinct origins.” Accordingly, the US special designation is also applied personally to Seka Musa Baluku, leader of the Allied Democratic Forces, and Abu Yasir Hassan, the leader of Ansar al-Sunna, as well, UPI reports.

“Under the leadership of Seka Musa Baluku, ISIS-DRC has been notorious in this region for its brutal violence against Congolese citizens and regional military forces, with attacks killing over 849 civilians in 2020 alone, according to United Nations reporting on the ADF,” the Department said.

In regard to ISIS-Mozambique, the Department said: [The group] led by Abu Yasir Hassan, has killed more than 1,300 civilians, and it is estimated that more than 2,300 civilians, security force members, and suspected ISIS-Mozambique militants have been killed since the terrorist group began its violent extremist insurgency.”

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