US warns of growing ISIS threat to African maritime trade

The United States has raised the alarm over the growing maritime capacity of Islamic State-linked insurgents in Mozambique, warning that their increasing piracy activities could threaten shipping and international trade along the African coast.

The Deputy Commander of the United States Africa Command, Lt Gen John W. Brennan, disclosed this during a virtual briefing organised by the US Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub on Tuesday.

Brennan said the increasing maritime activities of ISIS-Mozambique, particularly recent piracy incidents off the country’s coast, had become a concern for regional security partners.

He said, “I think with ISIS-Mozambique in particular, you’re seeing an increase in their maritime capacity. Obviously, the recent piracy actions off the coast have been noted, noteworthy, and I think the partners are adjusting.”

He said the United States was concerned about threats to the Mozambique Channel, a strategic maritime corridor for international shipping and commerce, adding that Washington wanted to strengthen security cooperation with Mozambique and other regional partners to protect the route.

“With the volume of traffic that goes through the Mozambique Channel, that key terrain is very important to global shipping as well as global commerce.

“We want to make sure it’s protected from predators like ISIS-Mozambique and anyone who would seek to harm global transit of shipping and global trade writ large,” Brennan said.

The AFRICOM deputy commander, who recently visited Mozambique and Madagascar alongside the command’s Deputy Commander for Civil-Military Engagement and former US Ambassador to Mozambique, Peter Vrooman, said Washington was seeking to increase its security engagement with the two countries.

He said the US planned to strengthen Mozambique’s maritime security capacity through military exercises, specialised training and cooperation with its defence authorities.

Brennan disclosed that a Joint Combined Exchange Training exercise was planned for Mozambique later in the year, while the US was also encouraging the country to host more regional security exercises.

He said previous training arrangements had been frustrated by administrative challenges, including visa issues and difficulties associated with bringing special forces personnel and equipment into the country.

“I have had JCETs scheduled in the past that did not happen for one reason or another. A lot of it was, I think, centred on processes for getting special forces teams into the country, things like visa issues and bringing in equipment and weapons that led to the events not happening,” he said.

He added, “So I asked General, or I asked President Chapo and their minister of defence to please help cut through the bureaucracy to allow the training events to happen.”

Brennan said the US was also interested in expanding Mozambique’s participation in regional maritime security exercises, including Cutlass Express and Epic Guardian, to improve the capacity of African security forces to respond to emerging threats.

He said the US typically attracted about 30 countries to Cutlass Express and wanted Mozambique to host some of the exercises in the future, alongside Madagascar.

The US military official also highlighted the importance of protecting major foreign investments in Mozambique, particularly the multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas project involving ExxonMobil and Total in Afungi.

He said the investment was strategically important to Mozambique’s economy and that the US wanted to prevent ISIS-Mozambique from disrupting its operations.

“The US and AFRICOM want to invest more in the relationship with Mozambique, and it’s intimately tied to private sector commercial investment as well, with ExxonMobil and Total’s project in Afungi.

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“It’s a multibillion-dollar investment. We want to make sure that ISIS-Mozambique doesn’t interfere with that, because the results of that investment could double the GDP of Mozambique within the first year it’s fully operational,” Brennan said.

He said the US was working with Mozambique to improve security around the investment site and create greater awareness of employment opportunities for local communities.

Brennan disclosed that he had visited security installations in Cabo Delgado, where he discussed community engagement and security challenges with local commanders.

He said the US was also supporting efforts to counter misinformation and propaganda allegedly circulated by Russia’s Africa Corps to undermine Western security partnerships and private-sector investments.

According to him, the US wanted to highlight the training and cooperation it was conducting with Mozambique through exercises such as Cutlass Express, Epic Guardian and JCETs.

Brennan also called for stronger regional maritime intelligence-sharing arrangements, noting that Mozambique was absent from a regional maritime information-sharing network he visited in Madagascar.

He said the network comprised seven countries, including the island nations in the Western Indian Ocean, Kenya and France.

He argued that Mozambique’s participation would improve its access to intelligence on maritime activities within and beyond its exclusive economic zone.

The US official said Washington was also considering technological support, including SeaVision, a global maritime monitoring system, and uncrewed systems to improve surveillance and maritime security.

Meanwhile, Brennan warned African countries against allowing Russia to extend its security model in the Sahel to other parts of the continent, particularly East Africa.

He described Russia and China as Africa’s “new colonisers”, accusing them of seeking to exploit the continent’s natural resources and undermine national sovereignty.

He said, “We tell our allies and partners on the continent they are free to partner with whom they wish, but we want to make sure they understand the risks associated with that so that Russia doesn’t apply their CT model that has been largely ineffective in the Sahel in East Africa.”

He added that the US was concerned about Russia’s renewed military relationship with Madagascar and its potential implications for security in the Western Indian Ocean.

On Somalia, Brennan dismissed suggestions that the relocation of US forces from Baledogle Airfield indicated a change in Washington’s security relationship with Mogadishu.

He said the decision was purely economic, following the deterioration of the airfield’s runway, which had become increasingly dangerous for aircraft operations.

“So the relocation from Baledogle was 100 per cent an economic decision. The airfield, the surface of the airfield was declining to the point where it was becoming dangerous to land aircraft there,” he said.

He added that resurfacing the facility would have cost tens of millions of dollars, prompting the US to relocate the personnel to another location, mostly Mogadishu.

Brennan insisted that the decision did not represent a change in Washington’s relationship with the Somali National Army or the country’s security forces.