It has recently been reported that the organization called Al Shabab, which is a proxy to ISIS mercenaries, took control of the city of Palma on the Indian Ocean coast in Mozambique in southern Africa. Palma, the subject of the allegations, is located in a region where many big companies, especially Total, produce natural gas.

It has been claimed that ISIS mercenaries, which were defeated by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria and were largely neutralized in Iraq, chose this continent as its new "stronghold" through "proxy organizations" in some countries of Africa.

Speaking to the French newspaper Le Point, Wassim Nasr, the author of the book about ISIS called "Etat Islamique, le fait accompli" emphasized that the organization is becoming active in a region where natural gas resources are located in Mozambique. Noting that some radical Islamist armed groups in Africa have ties to ISIS through "allegiance" with no physical contact, Nasr stated that many mercenary groups in Central and West Africa are known to receive military training support from ISIS.

Wassim Nasr also said that in the case of Mozambique, it is difficult for ISIS-linked groups to keep the areas they occupy, and emphasized that it is not correct to compare the recent ISIS activity in Africa with the occupations in Syria and Iraq that lasted for years. Nasr underlined that ISIS could even employ civil servants in these countries, but it will not be easy for them to rule the places they occupy in a country like Mozambique where the majority of the population is Christian.

Nasr argues that those who pledged allegiance to ISIS within Boko Haram in the regions of Nigeria near Lake Chad have reached the level of ISIS in Syria between 2013-2014. Nasr maintained that the gangs have become active in Mozambique, Congo, Tanzania, Egypt, West and Central Africa.