Mozambique: Unemployment not the cause of terrorism, says Governor

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Mozambique: Unemployment not the cause of terrorism, says Governor

7:46 CAT | 28 May 2021

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Conselho Executivo de Cabo Delgado on Facebook]

The governor of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, Valigy Tauabo, has described as false the frequent claim that unemployment is the main reason why young people join the terrorist groups active in the province, according to a report on Radio Mozambique.

Speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the Ancuabe district government, during a working visit to that district, Tauabo pointed out that the government was trying to create jobs. But while the government implanted economic and social infrastructures which could employ more young people, the terrorists set about destroying them.

Before the wave of jihadist destruction, “the trend in our province was one of growth, of acceleration, of more employment, and of more hope”, said Tauabo. “But the actions of the terrorists contradict this will of the government”.

“Then others appear saying the reason they are doing this is the lack of jobs, but that’s got nothing to do with it”, he added.

The government, he stressed, had shown its efforts to create more jobs. Young people “should not accept these words about a lack of jobs as a justification for actions that are not acceptable to society”.

Attempts have been made regularly to find some economic rationale for terrorism, and to downplay ideological factors such as religious fanaticism.

Source: AIM