The United States has imposed sanctions on three individuals associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Africa.
These individuals have been designated as key financiers by the Department of the Treasury, enabling the activities of ISIS and its leaders in Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa.
Abubakar Swalleh is a South African- and Zambian-based ISIS operative who facilitates the movement of individuals affiliated with ISIS from Uganda to South Africa and vice versa.
Other sanctioned individuals include Zayd Gangat and Hamidah Nabagala. Zayd Gangat is a South African-based ISIS facilitator and trainer. Hamidah Nabagala, in turn, has been accused of financing the October 2021 bombing in Kampala, which killed one person and injured at least three others. ISIS is a Salafi-Jihadist group that has carried out and inspired terrorist attacks around the world, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries.
The National Counterterrorism Centre noted that it has approximately 8,000 to 16,000 members in Iraq and Syria. In 2019, an international coalition expelled ISIS from its last stronghold in Syria, although the group continues to operate secretly there and in Iraq.
