Pathways of engagement with a terrorist group in Mozambique

Abstract

The rapid expansion of terrorism has threatened the security and stability of Mozambique. The terrorist group locally called "al-Shabaab" has attracted many people, established terrorist camps in the bush, and created military bases in occupied villages. This research aims to understand who these people are, what strategies the terrorist group use to engage local people, and what form the actual engagement takes. Applying a qualitative approach, interviews with 54 informants were conducted and thematically analysed, including 35 prisoners confined on charges of terrorism in Cabo Delgado and several key stakeholders in government institutions.
We identified five types of engagement in terrorist groups: voluntary, through enticement and deception, forced, by birth, and ambiguous (people who were not aware of their involvement in the terrorist groups). Based on our analysis, we drew two major conclusions. First, engagement in terrorism and engagement with a terrorist group should be distinguished as
separate actions. Second, the massive engagement involves three factors: the terrorist groups' strategies, local vulnerabilities, and a weak state's response.