©Andrew Moore on Flickr - Aerial View - Beira
Islamism in Mozambique By Felix Sjögren Over the last years, ISIS-controlled areas in the Middle East have been decreasing in size. From the 100,000 square kilometres big caliphate in the mid-2010’s to the now fairly insignificant hold of the group, ISIS has been experiencing a substantial regression. But an ISIS-affiliated Islamist group has been gaining ground in another part of the world: Mozambique. Mozambique, a sub-Saharan country, with a predominantly Christian population, is not commonly known for its militant Islamism. But in recent years, the Islamist group Ansar al-Sunna have been establishing themselves there. In fact, in August of 2020 they took control over the port of Mocimboa da Praia, used to access one of the biggest natural gas-finds in Africa. Later on inNovember of 2020 more than 50 people were beheaded and two villages burnt down and as recently as in March of 2021, there have been reports that 20
children as young as 11 have been beheaded. Estimates claim the group has killed as many as 2000 people since 2017, in an attempt to establish an Islamic state in the area. How could Islamism establish itself in a predominantly Christian region? Ansar al-Sunna, or perhaps their technique, is quite different from other Islamist groups. They do of course hold fundamentalist beliefs, such as an aversion to education, Christianity, the Western World and the local government, but this ideology is not, outwardly, the prime reason for recruitment and expansion, making them quite different from more established groups such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda. Rather, they claim to be an antidote to elitism, corruption and resulting poverty. The literacy rate in Mozambique is at about 60%, the same rate thatthe adult population of the entireworld was at 50 years ago. The rate of unemployment, especially among the young, is high and the presence of organized crime, particularly the trade of arms, is evident. Even though there exist industries of
