Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/202103280152.html
The human rights watch recently said that Mozambique authorities should take urgent measures to protect the civilians fleeing an armed Islamist group in Palma of the northern Cabo Delgado province. The terrorist group is known locally as Al-Shabab and Al-Sunna, which are both linked to the Islamic state (ISIS). Palma is a very gas rich town which seems to be part of the motivation for this raid, witnesses have reported that they saw bodies laying on the streets of Palma as the Al-Shabab opened fire at buildings and people. Cell phone signals have also been disrupted making it difficult to receive more information about the situation, and more importantly, to call for help.
This isn’t the first time Sub-Saharan Africa has had to deal with Islamic terrorist, but the occurrences do seem to be more and more common. This is frightening for the Sub-Saharan region because it shows that not even Southern Africa is safe from terrorism, but terrorism is not new for the Sub-Saharan region; countries like Kenya and Nigeria are very familiar with terrorism and the effects it has on a countries welfare, economy, and overall health. I hope this situation in Mozambique forces other countries of the region to do some self reflection and figure out how to prevent any more terrorism in the region, or more importantly figure out the reasons for these attacks: corruption, poverty, and human rights obstructions.
As a shatterbelt region, Sub-Saharan Africa is quite prone to terrorist mainly because of the fact that they are the most vulnerable; all of the political division makes them a very easy target because how will they be able to handle any external problems if they can’t handle the ones within the borders of their own nation. See Sub-Saharan Africa is already a violence-stricken area, and without any economic boost they will never recover from both the terrorist and government violence that restricts them from having a voice globally. The issue of terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa can be resolved through the reducing corruption and giving the people a voice, because they are the ones who ultimately suffer the consequences.