SOCIAL INTEGRATION AS A PREVENTATIVE STRATEGY TO COMBAT RISING ISLAMIC EXTREMISM/TERRORISM IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE

This article discusses the terrorist crisis in Cabo Delgado, Northern Mozambique. The article proposes the sociological theory of Social Integration as a possible tool to use in stemming the spread of the Jihadist terrorist crisis. The article seeks to answer the question; how likely are social integration and policies based on social integration to resolve the social fragmentation that has led to extremism or terrorism in Cabo Delgado? The article does this by first seeking to establish that social conflict between the Muslims in the north and the government in Maputo is one possible factor that led to the insurgency and the eventual co-opting of the crisis by the Jihadist movements. Next the article proposes that social integration can be used to improve the outcomes of the conflict. The article uses a Social integration framework developed by UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) to test the hypothesis that social integration can be used as a tool in this conflict. At the end, the findings are that social integration can be a useful tool if used in conjunction with the security-oriented approach of the Mozambican Armed forces and SAMIM.