NAIROBI, Kenya According to a recent assessment by the U.N.'s office for international development, sub-Saharan Africa is now the world's hotspot of violent Islamic extremism, and people are joining more frequently for economic reasons than theological ones. When compared to the figures in a previous research published in 2017, the UNDP report released on Tuesday stated that 92% of recruits to extremist groups are joining for better jobs and escalating poverty. It claimed that the COVID-19 epidemic, rising inflation, and climate change had all had a negative impact on the livelihoods of several Africans.
According to the report, the number of persons joining extremist
groups for religious reasons has dropped by 57%.
In eight African nations—Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan—nearly 2,200 persons were questioned for the report. According to the investigation, more than 1,000 respondents were both willing volunteers and coerced recruits who had previously belonged to violent extremist groups. According to the research, there have been at least 4,155 verified attacks across Africa since 2017. 18,417 fatalities from these attacks were reported across the continent, with the majority occurring in Somalia. The al-Shabab terrorist group is currently the target of what has been called the Somali government's most serious operation in more than a decade. People interviewed came from a variety of extremist groups across the continent for example the al-Shabab in Somalia and Boko Haram.
People from numerous extremist organizations across the
continent, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Shabab in Somalia, which vows
loyalty to al-Qaida, and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, or JNIM, in
West Africa, which is associated with the Islamic State group, were
interviewed.
With 48% of all terrorist deaths worldwide in 2021,
Sub-Saharan Africa has emerged as the new global epicenter of violent
extremism, according to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, who spoke at a press
conference before the report's release.
He claimed that the rise of extremism in Africa "not only negatively effects lives, security, and peace, but also threatens to undo generations' worth of hard-won development benefits." According to Steiner, military initiatives to combat extremism are seriously failing.
Unfulfilled expectations, particularly the absence of
consistent financial advantages, and a lack of faith in extreme leaders were
mentioned as the main reasons for leaving the extremist organisations by those
who left them.
According to research, those who choose to leave violent
extremism are less likely to return and attract new members "the report
stated.
Nirina Kiplagat, a UNDP expert on combating violent
extremism in Africa, said: "This is why it's so crucial to invest in
incentives that facilitate disengagement." "Along with national
governments' amnesty programs, local communities are crucial in promoting
sustainable exits from violent extremism.
