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From a variety of sources including security, military, intelligence experts and specialist reporting, AFP has gathered some key elements on what is known about the group so far.
FILE: Mozambican army soldiers patrol the streets after increased security in the area, following a two-day attack by suspected Islamists in October last year, on March 7, 2018 in Mocimboa da Praia, Mozambique. Image: AFP
JOHANNESBURG – A violent rebellion raging in northern Mozambique entered its fourth year this month, claiming more than 2,000 lives so far and displacing at least 310,000 civilians.
It is run by a shadow group known locally as Al-Shabab, which a year ago pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, but its leadership remains unclear and its motives were only recently revealed.
From a variety of sources including security, military, intelligence experts and specialist reports, AFP has gathered some key elements on what is known so far about the group.
ROOTS OF REBELLION
Around 2007, Islamic religious leaders said they began to notice a “strange movement” among some young people who began to practice a “different” type of Islam, drinking alcohol and entering mosques dressed in shorts and shoes.
Disgruntled youth formed Ansaru-Sunna, a sub-unit of the Islamic Council in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, and built new mosques while embracing a harsher form of Islam, according to Eric Morier-Genoud, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. . .
The local government was aware of its existence but underestimated its ability, locals said.
“We all knew they were dangerous, but we never thought they would be capable of waging war,” said a local imam who was then based in Mocimboa da Praia, which later became the epicenter of the insurgency.
LEADERSHIP, AFFILIATION
Initially after October 5, 2017, when they staged their first attack, the members concealed their identities, but in March, the group unmasked its fighters on video when it openly declared its goal of turning the gas-rich region into a caliphate.
Unlike jihadist groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria, which has a central leader, Mozambique’s Al-Shabab seems to have no definitive head.
But Mozambique’s Center for Research Jornalism (CJI) suggests two possible leaders.
One is Abdala Likonga, who is believed to have received religious education and training in insurgency operations in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
However, in 2018, the police named six men as leaders of the group, excluding Likonga.
The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some 40 attacks since June last year when they opened the Central Africa franchise, according to International Crisis Group consultant Piers Pigou.
“They are obviously affiliated with ISIS, but they seem to receive little or no support other than the propaganda-based benefits of the affiliation,” said John Stupart, director of the South African-based African Defense Review.
RECRUITMENT, FORCE
While a number of young people are pressured into the ranks, there have been some, already leaning toward sectarianism, who voluntarily joined.
Others are lured with false promises of scholarships to continue their Islamic studies abroad, only to end up in boot camps in the dense forests of Cabo Delgado.
“At first it was by temptation, with promises of money or employment. But now people are kidnapped or kidnapped, which has made the group grow rapidly,” said Enio Chingotuane, an expert in security studies at the Joaquim Chissano University in Maputo.
Military intelligence sources on the ground estimate the group’s strength at around 4,500, of which 2,000 are believed to be armed.
Foreigners are involved, including some Tanzanians, but their role remains unclear,
“Clearly there is a foreign presence,” Pigou said.
GAS, RUBIES AND FINANCING
There have been suggestions of a link between the country’s natural resources, with gas and rubies believed to have
it played a role in driving some young people toward militancy.
The gas project came with huge promises of job opportunities to lift people out of poverty in one of the poorest nations in the world.
But the project has yet to generate the long-awaited jobs in the country’s poorest region. Instead, it has displaced some peasants from their agricultural and fishing lands.
Hundreds of artisanal miners expelled in early 2017 from the Montepuez ruby mines may have been cornered in the ranks of the insurgents.
“This led people to react violently,” Chingotuane said.
There is no evidence of arms smuggling for the group, which is also known by its Arabic name Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama (ASWJ).
“ASWJ appears to be completely self-sufficient in banditry” and capturing weapons in battle, Stupart said.
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