Despite the concerns raised by Amnesty about wide-scale human rights abuses by Mozambique security forces, including detention/torture of journalists and civil rights activists in Cabo Delgado, it seems not to matter to the Institute of Security Studies (ISS).
Instead, the ISS is fixated on propagating the alarmist notion that ISIS (read Muslim extremists) are causing havoc over there and warning that unless the South African government commits soldiers in a war alongside Mozambique forces, the threat of “Islamist terror” will engulf South Africa.
ISS spokespersons are on record insisting that South Africa, SADC and the AU have an obligation to join forces with Mozambique in fighting ISIS. Strangely though, media interviews failed to elicit evidence from ISS of the existence of ISIS.
This does not surprise us because the ISS narrative is entirely based on conjecture, speculation and slanted in ways which give rise to Islamophobia or simply put: Islam-bashing.
Ironically it’s ISS not ISIS fanning the flames of war.
The absence of context especially with regard to the forced displacement by Mozambique authorities of settled communities to clear the resource-rich North for the benefit of multinational corporations such as Total, is a disgraceful display of unprofessional conduct by ISS.
Not a word about the illegal deployment of notorious mercenaries from South Africa who are armed to the teeth including air-power, and their destructive role in Cabo Delgado, raises concerns about ISS motives in fuelling Islamophobia.
