CRG Seminar: Examining the ethnic dimension of the jihadist insurgency in Northern Mozambique

Northern Mozambique has experienced armed attacks by local jihadist groups backed by the Islamic State since 2017. The Mozambican government and its Western allies portray the attackers as international terrorists, while research has mostly emphasised socioeconomic grievances such as poverty, youth unemployment, social inequalities, and the exclusion of local communities from the benefits of natural resources as key drivers of the insurgency. Surprisingly, the role of identity-related factors, particularly religion and ethnic tensions, has been underexplored, although they are central to a fuller understanding of the conflict.

This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the ethnic dimension of the jihadist insurgency in northern Mozambique, with a focus on how violence against civilians, perpetrated both by Islamist militants and by government security forces, is shaped by the identity of victims. Drawing on open-source data, key informant interviews, and Armed Conflict Location & Event Data records, preliminary findings indicate that ethnicity has a significant influence on insurgency and counterinsurgency operations in northern Mozambique, as militants tend to be more violent in areas predominantly inhabited by Christian members of the Makonde and Makua ethnic groups, while state forces are more violent towards civilians in coastal areas largely populated by Muslim Mwani communities. The target and type of violence tend to be different, too.

This seminar is organised by the CRG "Conflict continuities."

Image: “Al-Shabaab insurgent during the Battle of Mocimboa da Praia," Voice of America, 27 June 2020 (public domain in the U.S.)