MSF statement about the attack that took place on 10 May in Macomia district, Cabo Delgado province
Mozambican Army soldiers (Getty Images / Afp / Jinty Jackson)
IESE thinks that reinforcing the FDS will not do it. “A massive presence of the FDS could exacerbate tension between young people and the state,” the NGO says, warns that a massive presence might be accompanied by human rights abuses.
More and more groups of young people suspected of attempting to join insurgent groups operating in Cabo Delgado are being intercepted by the Defence and Security Forces (FDS), many of them from the neighbouring province of Nampula. An action by the authorities on their arrival, but on their departure from Nampula, what do the authorities do?
DW Africa spoke with Salvador Forquilha, director of the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE), an institution which has been doing research on the insurgency in the north of the country, about recruitment in Nampula.
DW Africa: It has long been said that young people in Nampula are being recruited into the ranks of the insurgency. Do you have any idea how the grooming is done?
Salvador Forquilha (SF): I think that since the beginning of armed violence in October 2017, the recruitment of young people in Nampula province, particularly in the coastal districts, namely Nacala-à-Velha, Nacala Porto, Memba and Ilha de Moçambique, has been a reality. Over these three years, the police have several times intercepted groups of young people allegedly going to join the insurgents in Cabo Delgado. In fact, in our first research report on Islamic radicalisation in northern Mozambique mentions that groups were recruiting off the coast of Nampula. And the enticement to these young people continues to the same today, that is, employment, and in some cases studying outside Mozambique, namely in Tanzania. It is evident that the vulnerability in which the vast majority of young people in these areas find themselves plays in favour of recruitment networks for armed violence in Cabo Delgado.
DW Africa: The Mozambican state has called on young people to resist this route, but that alone is not enough. Shouldn’t the authorities present alternatives to the young people of Nampula to dissuade them?
SF: Clearly, a simple call on young people not to join the insurgent group is not enough. I think it is necessary for the state to present alternatives to young people, particularly in terms of employment or income generation schemes, in order to alleviate their vulnerability. It is necessary for the state to have an answer to this strategic, medium to long term problem.
DW Africa: In the same way that the presence of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) in Cabo Delgado was reinforced, should Nampula also be reinforced to avoid an increase in recruitments and other associated evils?
SF: I do not think that strengthening the FDS in Nampula would be the solution to the recruiting of young people into the ranks of the insurgents in Cabo Delgado. On the contrary, I think that a massive FDS presence in the province could exacerbate tensions between young people and the state given that, in these circumstances, any mass FDS presence is accompanied by excessive repression and human rights abuses. The solution is to bring the state closer to young people in terms of employment policies or income generation schemes, to address their extreme vulnerability.
DW Africa: Does the apparent ease with which recruiting is carried out in Nampula exposes a weak state presence in the province, as happened in Cabo Delgado?
SF: I think the problem, once again, concerns the relationship with the state. In fact, in many of these areas the state is absent, is estranged in terms of basic services and policies. This makes the arrival of an armed group bearing a message of opposition to the state catalyse and accelerate discontent in marginalised sections of the population, including young people, making them much more vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups, as is the case of the group that operates in Cabo Delgado.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.