By Rohan Gunaratna
Introduction
Is the Islamic State (IS) now controlling a global network from East Africa? Is Africa, Islamic State’s global terror hub? In response, the US President Donald J. Trump said, “We will find you, and we will kill you”.
A renewed offensive began on February 1, 2025, but the Islamic State East Africa Province (ISEAP) has expanded from Somalia to neighbouring Puntland. With links to the Middle East, ISEAP has established dozens of bases, communities and hideouts in Africa. Like the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), ISEAP is networking with the Islamic State affiliates worldwide.
To stem the surge of extremism and terrorism, Africa needs help to strengthen the poorly kitted and equipped forces. They use camels for transport to fight the Islamic State. Before it is too late, the world needs to wake up!
The Context
The world thought the Islamic State was defeated in 2019, when over 80 countries came together to dismantle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. However, the ideology of Islamic State shifted from the Middle East to Asia and Africa. In Asia, they established the Islamic State Khorasan Province and in Africa, they created multiple groups. Embedded, the Islamic State ideology is thriving in Africa with its hub in the west, east and the center. In addition, Al Qaeda affiliate Al Shabab and the Islamic State operate in Somalia and beyond.
A Warning from Africa
A daring Sky journalist Alex Crawford says in “Hunting ISIS in Somalia: A Warning from Africa” that to fuel violence globally, the ISEAP is waging a jihad using cryptocurrency with links both in Africa and beyond.
With the Puntland forces, she visited the rugged mountains where ISEAP has established hideouts from where they conduct drone attacks, snipe, fire RPGs and mortars, manufacture and lay IEDs and mount suicide attacks.
A new global strategic hub was created by the Islamic State in Puntland where ISEAP was engaged in extortion and violence, imposing their version of Islamic law. After disrupting their lifestyle, the Islamic State destroyed their livestock, kidnapped children and raped women. Holding territory by fear and force, ISEAP inflicted Immense suffering on the 19,000 families now displaced.
The new recruiting and training ground for the Islamic State, ISEAP attracted hundreds of foreign fighters from 20 countries to cross oceans and deserts to fight “infidels”. The Puntland forces hold passports of dead and living fighters from the West, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The human and arms traffickers based in Yemen facilitate and drive this crime-terror nexus.
The Future
Many significant leaders of the Islamic State now live in Somalia, Puntland and in the rest of Africa.
Born in Somalia and radicalised in London, Abdul Qādir Mūmin broke ranks with Al Shabab and built the ISEAP core in Puntland. To fight ISEAP in Somalia and Puntland and other Islamic State entities, Africa needs enhanced cooperation regionally and international partners.
How to Fight the Surging Threat?
To better understand the threat, together with 25 continental experts in Africa, Prof. Rohan Gunaratna and Dr. C. Nna-Emeka Okereke have co-edited the “Handbook of Terrorism in Africa” published by Palgrave Macmillan.
This book provides a much needed and comprehensive exploration of Africa’s emergence as an epicentre for global terrorism. The country-specific and regional analysis of terrorism unravel the intricate interplay of internal and external forces that contribute to the genesis and perpetuation of terrorist activities in Africa.
Rohan Gunaratna
