The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) publishes this Tuesday, February 7 a report on the logic at work in the rise of extremist violence in sub-Saharan Africa, more particularly the processes of joining extremist groups. The economic situation is the main motivation to enlist.
The latest information mentioned before from the UN Development Program looks at “pathways of recruitment and disengagement” of extremist armed groups in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the second of its kind, following the first report on the drivers of extremism in 2017. of the planet, note the UNDP researchers.
They interviewed more than 2K people in eight sub-Saharan African countries. Among them, more than a thousand have been part of a violent extremist group, voluntarily or not; 25% of former volunteer recruits cite the lack of job opportunities as the number one reason for joining an extremist group. Unemployment is not in itself a vector of membership, but economic precariousness, and material difficulties, push people to enlist. Religion is the third most cited motivation.