SUMMARY

Islamic State (IS) militants based in Mozambique launched several cross-border attacks against Tanzanian Government positions in it southernmost province of Mtwara in October 2020. The attacks indicate the imminent risk of further spillover from the growing Islamic State insurgency in Mozambican. Some smaller attacks occurred in 2021, but caused insufficient fatalities to be coded as active. No available information has indicated that IS had a permanent military presence in Tanzania. Since July 2022, fighting involving Tanzania has been as a secondary warring party to the Government of Mozambique within that country, as part of a multinational Southern African Development Community mission (see Mozambique: Islamic State). The arrival of Islamic State (IS) in Tanzania follows several years of unrest in the bordering Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, where an Islamist insurgency began in late 2017. In July 2019, the responsible group, Ansar al-Sunnah, pledged allegiance to and joined IS. Given IS' global ambitions, and the presence of many Tanzanians in its ranks, the threat towards Tanzania appeared serious. Tanzania has itself had problems with Islamist insurgencies in the past, including one in Kibiti that was suppressed in 2017, reportedly causing many of its members to flee to join the Mozambican insurgency. Tanzania has since remained a primary source of recruits for the Islamic State insurgency in Mozambican.

Even as the border region was increasingly overrun by insurgents, Tanzania took no steps to close or secure its porous border with Mozambique until August 2020, after a major IS victory resulted in the capture of an important Mozambican town. Tanzania then announce that it would launch a military operation to root out IS from its border region with Mozambique. Likely in response to this operation, IS launched its first known military operation across the border into Tanzania on 14 October, killing at least 22 soldiers and civilians in Kitaya village. The operation reportedly was conducted by 200-300 insurgents, a considerable mobilization of fighters in the remote region whilst simultaneously fighting the Mozambican government further south. Further operations was conducted by IS against Tanzanian forces at the end of the end of October. In response, Tanzania arrested hundreds of people in November whom it claimed were linked to IS, though some observers cast doubt on the alleged links as it came after a violent crackdown on the opposition following the contested election held in late October (see Government of Tanzania - Civilians). From July 2021, Tanzania participated with armed personnel in the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), whose member countries combats IS as secondary warring parties to the government of Mozambique inside Mozambican territory. The international intervention has contributed to improving the security situation along the Mozambique-Tanzania border, causing Tanzania's own conflict with IS to die down in 2021.