Double Seminar of the CRG Conflict continuities: Examining the ethnic dimension of the jihadist insurgency in Northern Mozambique & My neighbor matters: Forgiveness in post-genocide Rwanda

13:00-13:10 Welcome 

13:10-13:55 Examining the ethnic dimension of the jihadist insurgency in Northern Mozambique, by Borges Nhamirre 

13:55:14:05 Break

14:05-14:50 My neighbor matters: Forgiveness in post-genocide Rwanda, by Emmanuel Sarabwe 

14:50-15:00 Closing reflections and CRG announcements

 

 

Northern Mozambique has experienced armed attacks by local jihadist groups backed by the Islamic State since 2017. The Mozambican government and its Western allies portray the attackers as international terrorists, while research has mostly emphasised socioeconomic grievances such as poverty, youth unemployment, social inequalities, and the exclusion of local communities from the benefits of natural resources as key drivers of the insurgency. Surprisingly, the role of identity-related factors, particularly religion and ethnic tensions, has been underexplored, although they are central to a fuller understanding of the conflict.

This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the ethnic dimension of the jihadist insurgency in northern Mozambique, with a focus on how violence against civilians, perpetrated both by Islamist militants and by government security forces, is shaped by the identity of victims. Drawing on open-source data, key informant interviews, and Armed Conflict Location & Event Data records, preliminary findings indicate that ethnicity has a significant influence on insurgency and counterinsurgency operations in northern Mozambique, as militants tend to be more violent in areas predominantly inhabited by Christian members of the Makonde and Makua ethnic groups, while state forces are more violent towards civilians in coastal areas largely populated by Muslim Mwani communities. The target and type of violence tend to be different, too.

 

 

The research presented focuses on forgiveness related to crimes committed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. This genocide is considered as the most heinous human rights violation in the twentieth century. In a period of hundred days over one million of people were killed, thousands of women raped, many people injured, and innumerable animals, houses and other properties of Tutsi looted and/or destroyed. The specificity of the genocide was that most perpetrators lived in the same neighborhood before and during the genocide as those they victimized and returned to their previous homes after having served their sentence. This proximity added significantly to the challenge post-genocide Rwanda was faced with: how to peacefully live together again and rebuild the nation. The research to be presented addresses the why, how and outcome of forgiveness as a tool to restore relations broken by violence and, as such, contribute to peace.

Respondents in our study included genocide perpetrators who had finished their punishment and requested forgiveness and survivors who had granted forgiveness, as well as their respective spouses and descendants. Seven focus group discussions and twenty-five individual interviews were conducted. A key finding shows that people’s understanding of ‘real forgiveness’ is well captured by the concept of ‘reparative humanism,’ with reference to ubuntu, as introduced by the South African scholar Gobodo-Madikizela. Forgiveness is also considered a family and community affair. A key motivation for forgiveness is the fact that those involved in the process live near to each other. Notably, however, forgiveness does not always automatically contribute to a culture of peace. In the seminar, we explore the implications of these findings for the significance of ‘forgiveness’ in transitional justice processes in Rwanda and beyond.

 

This seminar is organised by the CRG "Conflict continuities."