This week, militant groups in Mali and Tunisia pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State. Because militant groups in Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria have made similar pledges, some in the media believe there is a wave of Islamic State militancy sweeping across Africa. But when examined a little more carefully, it becomes clear there is not a new surge of jihadism. In fact, every group in Africa that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State already exists, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, or is a splinter of an existing group, such as the Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui faction of al-Mourabitoun in Mali (formerly the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa). Every one of these African groups has been involved in terrorism or insurgency for years.