The Allied Democratic Forces is rampaging through the Christian-majority Democratic Republic of Congo. Like many other jihadist groups on a mission to establish a caliphate in Africa (and beyond), the Allied Democratic Forces are affiliated with the Islamic State, which is the principal, but by no means only, group waging violent jihad to advance Sharia across Africa. The mass killing of innocent Christian families is an ongoing phenomenon in the DRC; all while the UN and other bodies which falsely present themselves as interested in human rights ignore the plight of the Christians.

The United States State Department classified an Islamic State-affiliate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a terrorist group last month. The Allied Democratic Forces was formed in Uganda in the 1990s in a Muslim revolt against Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni. Pressure from Museveni forced the group to flee to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have since allied themselves with the Islamic State and rebranded themselves as Islamic State-Central African Province.

Also put on sanctions was the Mozambique-based jihadist group Al-Shabaab (no apparent relation to the Somali group of the same name). Al-Shabaab recently was in the news for laying bloody siege to the Mozambican city of Palma.

Sub-Saharan Africa isn’t generally considered a major battleground for radical Islam. But the State Department designations shows how serious Islamic terrorism is in Africa. According to the State Department press release, the Allied Democratic Forces killed at least 849 Congolese civilians in 2020 alone. Al-Shabaab, meanwhile, is responsible for thousands of deaths since 2017, as well as the displacement of hundreds of thousands.

As serious as the threat is today, the Allied Democratic Forces (adf) was almost snuffed out by the Congolese Army in 2015. Its founder, Jamil Mukulu, was apprehended, and its membership was estimated by the United Nations to be as low as 65. His successor, Seka Musa Baluku, needed new life breathed into the movement. He found it by pledging allegiance with the Islamic State. This opened up foreign sponsorship to the adf, now under a new name, and it has been wreaking havoc in D.R. Congo ever since. The Islamic State provides finances and training to the Congolese terrorist group; however, it doesn’t manage the group’s affairs directly.

Although the Allied Democratic Forces-cum-Islamic State–Central African Province is a brutal organization, it isn’t made exactly in the same mold as the Islamic State. It once fought alongside Christian militia groups against the Congolese government. Some of its practices, such as having female and child soldiers, aren’t common with the Middle Eastern Islamic State.

The Islamic State also doesn’t seem to take its Central African “province” too seriously. Of the estimated $100 million the group has accumulated, it has spent only $1 million on Central Africa.

The marriage between the Allied Democratic Forces and the Islamic State seems to be one of convenience.

And the Islamic State seems to be an unreliable partner at best. It may have made sense to associate with it several years ago, when it was strong and controlled much territory. But the Islamic State’s caliphate has been wiped out of Iraq and nearly out of Syria. Its former leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is now dead. The days when the Islamic State seemed like the premier terrorist group in the world appear to be over.

Will the Allied Democratic Forces soon be looking for another sponsor?

A possible option is Iran. The brutality of the Islamic State and other groups have stolen some of Iran’s limelight, but it is still the number one terrorist-sponsoring nation in the world. 

Unlike the Islamic State, it has all the resources of a fully-functioning country behind it. It has a professional military and sizable economy. Tehran’s terrorist proxies, like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, control territories themselves. And Iran has a long track record of sponsoring radical Islam in Africa. It supported the Muslim Brotherhood’s takeover of Egypt. It sponsors al-Shabaab in Somalia and may even be linked to Mozambique’s al-Shabaab movement (which, in turn, is affiliated with Islamic State–Central African Province). Esmail Qaani, the leader of Iran’s infamous Quds Force, specializes in infiltrating Africa