Poverty and state abuse, not religion, push Africans to ...

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  • Poverty and state abuse, not religion, push Africans to ...
    http://news.trust.org/item/20170907154106-rm8s2

    Poverty and state violence, not religion, are driving young Africans to join militant groups, the United Nations said on Thursday, after interviewing almost 600 recruits.

    It is easiest for organisations like al-Shabaab and Boko Haram to recruit young people who are unemployed and frustrated about lack of opportunities and services in remote areas, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) said.

    But researchers found about 70 percent of recruits said their “tipping point” was a government action, often the arrest or killing of a friend or relative by security forces.

    “Contrary to popular narratives, those who join extremist groups tend to have lower levels of religious or formal education and less understanding of the meaning of religious texts,” UNDP said in a statement.

    “Actually understanding one’s religion can strengthen resilience to the pull of extremism.”

    Interviews with non-militant youths showed that receiving at least six years of religious schooling reduced the likelihood of joining an extremist group by a third.

    The Islamist Boko Haram group, whose brutal eight-year campaign in northeast Nigeria shows no sign of ending, accounted for more than half of 33,000 deaths caused by militant attacks in Africa between 2011 and 2016, the U.N. said.

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