Problems under international humanitarian law with designating the Allied Democratic Forces and Ansar al-Sunna foreign terrorist organisations

• Author: Rattner, R
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2021/a7
• Published date: 15 December 2022
• Date: 15 December 2022
• Citation: (2021) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law 174
• Pages: 174-190

174

https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2021/a7

Counting apples as oranges:

Problems under international

humanitarian law with designating

the Allied Democratic Forces and

Ansar al-Sunna foreign terrorist

organisations

Rebecca Rattner*

Abstract

Under President Biden, the US has shifted its approach to ISIS to address

fears about the group’s expansion globally. The spread of ISIS in Africa

has become an area of notable concer n as an increasing number of armed

groups across the continent have announced afliations with ISIS. In

response to this perceived threat, the Biden Administration announced

the designation of two armed groups with ties to ISIS operating in the

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mozambique as foreign

terrorist organisations (FTOs) in March 2021. There are, however, reasons

to question the applicability of the designations in these two cases and

consider the broader context and consequences. This article argues that

the designations have been inappropriately assigned to these two groups

in the DRC and Mozambique based on inacc urate factual assessments and

explores the implications of th is problematic approach under international

humanitarian law.

Keywords: international humanitarian law, human security, foreign

terrorist organisations, global war on terror, use of force, Islamic

extremism

1 INTRODUCTION

Ingrained in the history of American foreign policy is a dangerous

tendency to let fear of perceived ideological enemies drive ill-i nformed

actions. In doing so, the US has taken at face value the motives offered

by organised armed groups (OAGs) themselves and overreacted in

* BA (Brown) MSc (LSE) JD (Harvard); Research Associate at the South African

Insti tute for Advanced Const itutional, Public, Human R ights and International

Law, a Centre of the University of Johan nesburg. Email: rebecca@s aifac.org.za.

(2021) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law 174

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COUNTING APPLES AS ORANGES 175

https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2021/a7

responding to such motives. During the Cold War, a number of OAGs

in Africa touted communist credentials to gain Soviet support.1 This

allegiance to communism, however, was largely rhetoric and posed

no real threat to the US.2 Yet, in response, the US-backed reactionary

opponents, such as the racist regimes in Zimbabwe and South Africa.3

Consequently, the US found itself on the side of perpetrators of grave

violations of international law and opposing groups that would

ultimately come into power. Not only did this approach undermine the

US’ credibility, but it also weakened the international humanitarian

law (IHL) regime, which, without an effective global enforcement

mechanism, relies on a degree of voluntary compliance. Now, history

seems to be repeating itself as America’s ongoing global war on

terrorism (GWOT) expands to Africa.

As US fears of ISIS expansion across the globe have grown,

American attention has turned towards Africa. In response to ISIS’

announcement of the establishment of the Islamic State Central Af rica

Province (ISCAP) and claims of responsibility for escalating violence

in the region, on 10 March 2021, the US State Department designated

the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group operating in

eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Ansar al-Sunna, an

armed group operating in northern Mozambique, as foreign terrorist

organisations ( FTOs).4 The designation is a signicant public signalling

of the Biden Administration’s concerns about the groups’ ideological

afliations with ISIS and raises the possibility of American military

action in the DRC and Mozambique.

1 Bruce Porter The USSR in Third World Conicts: Soviet Arms and Diplomacy in

Local Wars (1984) 5–35; Michael E Lat ham ‘The Cold War in the Third World’

in Melvyn P Lefer and Odd Arne Westad (eds) The Cambridge History of the

Cold War (2010) 260–267; Zbigniew Brzezi nski Africa and the Communist World

(1963) 3–6; Abbott A Brayton ‘Soviet Involvement in Africa’ (1979) 17:2 The

Journal of Modern Af rican Studies 253 at 256.

2 Nigel Gould-Davies ‘The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy’ (2003) 27:2

Diplomatic History 193 –214; Jean-François Baya rt ‘Africa in the World: A History

of Extraversion’ (2000) 99:395 African Affairs 217; Christopher Gauger ‘Reds

and Patriots: The Alliance of the African National Congress and the South

African Communist Party’ (2017) University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 40; Mark

Nash Red Africa: Affec tive Communities and the Cold War (2016).

3 See, for example, Elizabeth Schmidt Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold

War to the War on Terror (2013); Gary Baines and Peter Vale (eds) Beyond the

Border War: New Perspectives on Southern Africa’s Late-Cold War Conicts (200 8);

Sue Onslow (ed) Cold War in Southern Africa : White Power, Black Liberation (2009).

4 US State Department ‘State Depar tment Terrorist Designations of ISIS A fliates

and Leaders in t he Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique’ (20 21)

available at w.state.gov/state-department-terrorist-designations-

of-isis-affiliates-and-leaders-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-and-

mozambique/> (accessed on 29 March 2 022).

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