In the territories of the Global Consciousness Project there was a lot of dissent against the somewhat-atheistic research group. From the dissenters in Ethiopia who call for the liberation of the Congo to the anarchic warlords who lived in the sparely populated areas, there were many groups who wished for a different type of Congo. Until recently, the only radicals in Congo were the communists and the Mobutoists who largely stayed underground and dormant in their activity however, that would no longer be the case. Small groups of Somali and Ethiopian immigrants united under the faith of Islam, forming the militant group known as the “Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen” or the Movement of Striving Youth. The Islamist group, better known as al-Shabaab has built training camps in the less governed areas and established sleeper cells within some of the larger cities within the Congo.

In al-Shabaab controlled areas of the Congo, they’ve established Sharia and have begun policing their areas like a theocratic Caliphate. Unfortunately the mercenaries hired by the GCP are not well trained in “hearts and minds”, instead they seem to be proficient “bullets and grenades” and thus the Islamist group while hunted down when found, actually got more support from the common Congolese person. Although the majority of the Congo was previously Christian, the flood as well as the pragmatic approach of the GCP has turned people to more salvationist views that would help create a liberated Congo (even if it was under Sharia). While the GCP considers al-Shabaab to be a bunch of rag-tag bandits, in reality the Islamist group has taken enough of the outer provinces that they were more like a proto-state with their own councils and administration. But as the GCP says, “Ignorance is Bliss.”