WHERE CRIME COMPOUNDS CONFLICT
Summary and key findings
This report seeks to explain how the outbreak of violent conflict in northern Mozambique, driven by a group known locally as ‘Al Shabaab’, is linked to a large and dynamic illicit economy in the region. It asks not only whether, and how, the group derives funds from the smuggling of various types of contraband, but it also explains how the illicit economy itself has generated the conditions for this insurgent movement to emerge and how it may continue to fuel the phenomenon. Crucially, it argues that the state’s own efforts to quash the movement are undermined by its long-standing involvement in the illicit economy.
Drawing on our own interviews and previous research in the region, the report shows how illicit trades – ranging from wildlife poaching and drug trafficking to artisanal mining and human smuggling – have fostered corruption and undermined state legitimacy, provided livelihoods and local investment where the licit economy has not, and kept borders porous and the coastline unmonitored. Political figures, the ruling party and their elite criminal associates have openly benefited from both the licit and illicit extraction of natural resources, while the local community has often been punished for their involvement in informal illicit economies and denied the benefits of formal investment and economic growth. Into this crucible of resentment, extremists have stepped, offering opportunities for study and capital, and mobilizing their recruits to challenge violently the existing power relations.
One of the most disturbing realizations of the report is that the militant group is more economically and socially embedded than previously believed and may now rely on an organized collection of donations within northern Mozambique. The report concludes by tracing connections with similar developments in neighbouring Tanzania, arguing for a regional perspective on both the illicit economy and the extremist phenomenon.
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