Terrorism

The number of people killed by terrorist acts around the globe has decreased over the previous five years, while the number of incidents in this area has more than doubled since 2016. About half of all fatalities that were attributed to terrorism occurred in sub-Saharan Africa in 2021, with more than a third of those deaths occurring in just four countries: Somalia, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. The expansion of violent extremism or terrorism to other regions of the continent, such as Mozambique, is having a terrible effect on people's lives, their ability to make a living, and the chances for peace and prosperity. This is in spite of the remarkable depth of endogenous resilience that has been shown by local communities all over the continent. These communities have been at the forefront of preventive and creative ways of establishing daily peace in times of uncertainty. Terrorism is often the result of extremism in areas such as psychology, secular ideology, religion, ethnicity, and nationalism. In addition, the political grievances that people believe they are experiencing as a result of occupation, poverty, religious influence, and military persecution are often the root causes of terrorist acts. This demonstrates that there are many different factors at play that contribute to or fuel acts of violent extremism or terrorism. This paper lends support to the idea that the causes or drivers of terrorism or violent extremism are multidimensional to a larger degree. Since there is no one factor that can be pinpointed as the origin of terrorism, this paper will explore different corners that cause terrorism or violent extremism.