The Islamic State in Congo

Summary

On March 17, 2021, the Program on Extremism at George Washington University held an online panel discussion to accompany the release of a new Program report, The Islamic State in Congo. The report, produced in cooperation with the Bridgeway Foundation, analyzes the DRC-based chapter of the Islamic State's Central Africa Province (ISCAP), which was recently designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, and offers new, original details about the evolution of Musa Baluku's Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) into ISIS's local chapter. Based largely on primary sources, including defector and local source accounts, the report reveals unique insights into the group's inner workings and efforts to build transnational networks to support its operations.

The event was moderated by Program on Extremism Senior Research Fellow Haroro J. Ingram and included commentary from:

• Tara Candland, Project Officer for the Bridgeway Foundation
• Laren Poole, Chief Operations Officer for the Bridgeway Foundation
• Audu Bulama Bukarti, Analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
• Jason Stearns, Director of Congo Research Group at NYU and Assistant Professor at the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University.