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IOL News
2 days ago
- IOL News
WC children under siege
Children as young as 12 are being sucked into the deadly vortex of gang violence in the Western Cape, while hospitalisation for gunshot and stab wounds remain high. Image: Supplied IN JUST over a year, more than 700 children were admitted to hospital for gunshot wounds while over 3800 were hospitalised for stabbings in the province. As Child Protection Week draws to a close, activists highlighted that little progress has been made to ensure children are not subjected to abuse and violence. Meanwhile, children as young as 12 were also being sucked into the deadly vortex of gang violence used as decoys, gunmen, and drug couriers according to the latest Western Cape Gang Monitor by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC). The report also found that more than one child was murdered every day in the Western Cape over a three-month period in 2024. The spike is linked directly to gang violence, where children are either caught in crossfire or recruited into the gangs themselves. 'This sobering statistic is indicative of a wider trend: more children than ever before are being recruited into gangs in the Western Cape,' the report states. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Children are seen as ideal recruits by gang leaders, less likely to be suspected by police, and more willing to prove themselves. Craven Engel, a pastor and founder of gang-prevention organisation Ceasefire, told the report that gangs are weaponising innocence; 'a 12-year-old boy he had assisted, who had been recruited as a gunman for the Only the Family gang, was 'brainwashed to kill people.'' The report highlights a toxic combination of factors: poverty, generational trauma, and community breakdowns contributing to the vulnerability of children, to gangs. Community workers say that 'these kids are totally desensitised to violence. When they play games in the street, they have to play around a dead body.' The problem is compounded by gang fragmentation. Newly formed junior gangs, such as the Gotsavallas in Ottery, have emerged with younger and more reckless members. 'The group is made up exclusively of juvenile members, none of whom is older than 18,' the report states. Juvenile detention is no deterrent. Instead, it is described as a graduation into the gang, where 'young offenders may enter as a runner, but on leaving, may join the ranks outside as a fully-fledged member.' The provincial health department said the number of children admitted for gunshot wounds (718) and stabbings (3 864) from January 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025, was lower than other causes. Provincial health spokesperson, Shimoney Regter said the number includes hospital admissions due to various injuries from 75 Hospital and Emergency Centre Tracking Information System linked healthcare facilities in the province. 'In instances where a healthcare worker suspects that a child's injury may be linked to abuse or violence, there are clear procedures in place and support is provided to children and their families," she said. Child rights organisation Molo Songololo said children experience physical and non-physical trauma in their homes, at school and in their communities. 'Contributing factors for the high incidents of violence and crimes committed against children in hot spot areas identified in the recent SAPS stats includes poverty, and poverty related factors, unemployment, lack of jobs, lack of income and food insecurity, lack of and poor access to basic support services, poor infrastructure and sanitation, denial of support services, poor educational outcomes, substance abuse and addictions, robberies, extortions and gang related violence, early sexual activity and parenthood, and abusive, violence and exploitative sexual behaviour and practices; and the acceptance and normalisation of abuse, violence and crime; and child abandonment and absent fathers; including racial and social conflicts. 'More and more people, young people and even children are turning to criminal activity as a means of survival. This has caused a spike in theft, robberies, exploitative practices, and trafficking in children and adults,' said Molo Songololo director, Patric Solomons. He added that child protection must be everybody's business "every day everywhere". Solomons added that learner support services were also needed to keep children in school and reduce school drop-out rates. Molo Songololo will on June 14 host the Delft Children March for Peace and Safety in Delft South, which will start and end at Welwitschia Primary School. The march aims to mobilise the community through child participation to improve peace and safety for children in Delft. The march is open to parents, schools, educators, community members and organisations to join. To get involved, contact melda@ or WhatsApp 079 524 0621. Cape Times Government and community service providers will also take part in the Delft Children March for Peace and Safety on Saturday 14 June in Delft South, which start and end at Welwitschia Primary School. The children's march aims to mobilise the community through child participation to improve peace and safety for children in Delft. Image: Supplied
The Citizen
18-05-2025
- The Citizen
City Power is monitoring this weak spot to stop power outages from theft
The utility said the full restoration of the M1 bridge line is expected on Sunday evening. City Power's repairs to cables under the M1 highway bridge in Johannesburg are nearing completion, but have been hit with at least two incidents of vandalism in less than a week. Cable theft last May sparked a fire in the tunnel under the bridge, which damaged key infrastructure, cut the power supply, and covered the CBD in smoke. As of Saturday, three 400-metre high-voltage cables had been replaced, and six high-integrity joints had been installed. The utility said full restoration is expected on Sunday evening. 63 meters of cable were stolen from the M1 corridor earlier this month, with another 80 meters of earthing wire stolen last Sunday. On Wednesday, a suspect was caught near a tunnel entrance with 20 pieces of stolen earthing conductor. 'These essential safety components provide grounding for high-voltage networks, ensuring fault currents dissipate safely and maintaining grid stability. 'Their removal jeopardises safe operations, requiring extensive rework and system testing before energisation proceeds,' explained City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena. ALSO READ: Dozens of Eskom transformers are being stolen, police make key arrest Weak spot identified by City Power Mangena said the utility had ramped up surveillance and patrols, especially near manholes. The holes have been found to be vulnerable and are an increasingly common way to get access to cables. 'Preliminary findings suggest increasing instances of unauthorised access to the tunnel network, particularly through unsecured manholes, highlighting a broader security vulnerability that City Power and its partners are urgently working to address.' This was shown in another incident in the Joburg CBD on Thursday, when a 26-year-old homeless Malawian national reportedly breached a manhole and started hacking at cables underground. 'His arrest followed reports of distressing sounds from within the tunnel, prompting a rapid response from on-site security personnel. 'The suspect, found in possession of a hacksaw, attempted to flee but was swiftly apprehended and booked at Jeppe Police Station, where a case of tampering with critical infrastructure is being investigated,' said Mangena. The cost of cable theft In August, the utility said at least 130 people had been arrested over 12 months for theft and vandalism. Among these were City Power staff members and contractors, including security officers tasked with protecting vital infrastructure. Two months prior, it estimated the cost of losses to cable theft at R160 million for the first six months of 2024 alone. 4 633km of copper cable was stolen between the 2020 financial year to the end of October 2023. A 2023 GI-TOC report, entitled South Africa's Illicit Copper Economy, reported on the extent of cable and copper theft. 'Every day in South Africa, criminal elements strip copper from wherever they can find it, including roads, homes, construction sites, and mines. 'The theft of copper from already ailing infrastructure severely affects the capacity and operations of state-owned entities and municipalities,' it found. NOW READ: Bring in the army! City Power wants military to help fight cable theft crisis
Daily Maverick
08-05-2025
- Daily Maverick
Russian firm recruits young African women, including from SA, to build drones for war on Ukraine
Some recruits complained of racism and harassment. Others said they were subjected to excess surveillance and had to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work. A Russian firm is fraudulently recruiting hundreds of young foreign women — mostly from Africa, including South Africa — to manufacture drones which it is using to attack Ukraine, according to a new report. The women, aged between 18 and 22, though in the past some have been younger, are not told they are being recruited to Russia to make drones, according to the report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). The report, 'Who is making Russia's drones? — The migrant women exploited for Russia's war economy', said the women were recruited by a private company, Alabuga Start, with promises of good salaries and educational opportunities. The company is part of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (Alabuga SEZ), an industrial park in the city of Yelabuga, east of Moscow. It has been manufacturing Iranian Shahed drones since late 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, in a deal with the Iranian company Sahara Thunder — a subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, says the report. No mention is made in the recruiting of the migrant workers that they will be contributing to Russia's war against Ukraine, nor that they could face danger, says the report. The production site in the Alabuga SEZ, where Iranian Shahed 'kamikaze' drones and Albatross reconnaissance drones are made, was attacked by Ukrainian drones in April 2024, injuring several African migrant workers. GI-TOC said Alabuga Start participants and other workers at the site described exploitative, repressive and punitive working conditions. Some recruits complained of racism and harassment of African workers. Others said they were subjected to excess surveillance and had to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work. Some workers claimed that they were not paid what they had been promised (around $500 a month), although others expressed satisfaction with the pay. The report noted that Alabuga Start had at times been pitched as a work-study programme and some recruits had been promised they could continue from the Alabuga Polytech alongside the factory, to study at Russian universities. But, reportedly, these opportunities did not materialise, and several workers complained that they were given the least-skilled, most menial work. Euphemistic descriptions GI-TOC found that up to 90% of the migrant workers ended up on the drone assembly line, while the rest did jobs such as cleaning in the factory. Meanwhile, the advertising for recruits contained 'euphemistic or generic descriptions about working as a 'production operator' or 'technician' in otherwise unnamed production lines'. The report's authors found documents which included staffing plans which 'set out three categories of personnel: specialist technicians (Russians); 'Tajik' engineers; and 'mulatto' workers, a derogatory term for the African migrant workers'. The report quoted Timur Shagivaleev, CEO of the Alabuga SEZ, who said the programme was aimed at relieving Russia's labour shortage as 'Russians are simply not ready to work for 30,000–40,000 rubles ($300–400) … in Third World countries … the starting salary is very low – about $200. And that's why foreigners from exotic countries are ready to work for such money.' The report said its research showed that the most recent starting salary was now about $500 per month. Shagivaleev was also quoted as saying Alabuga Start only recruited women because they were more 'accurate' in their work and easier to work with than men. According to Alabuga's figures, the programme recruited participants from 44 countries in 2023, said the report. It added that it identified recruits from at least 32 countries, though there were likely to be more. GI-TOC's list includes South Africa as a source country for workers, but does not provide details. The report noted that the drones produced at Alabuga were central to Russia's war effort, as it has been launching attacks on Ukraine using Shahed-type drones almost daily. The Shaheds are called kamikaze drones because they don't carry separate weapons — they are the weapons. Which means Russia needs lots of them. Alabuga is a private company, and GI-TOC said it had found no evidence that the fraudulent recruitment of migrant women was directed by the Russian government. However, it said the company had close government links — as Moscow is a financial backer and the only user of the drones. Strategic interests It added that Alabuga 'is in line with Russia's strategic interests of growing its presence overseas, including in countries in Africa, and it has often made use of private business to achieve these objectives (including in the case of Wagner)', referring to the private military company founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin's confidante Yevgeny Prigozhin, which helped him fight his battles in Ukraine, Syria and Africa before he mutinied in 2023 and died in a suspicious plane crash with his senior commanders. The report also discovered evidence that Russian embassies in Tanzania and Central African Republic were involved in the recruitment of workers from those countries. It said that Alabuga Start primarily recruited online, but also through recruitment partners in source countries, some of whom claimed they did not know the workers were being recruited to make drones. GI-TOC found that the governments of some African countries had assisted in the recruitment of their nationals for the programme. A damaged car at the site of Russian shelling near a residential building in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 07 March 2025, amid the Russian invasion. At least eight people were injured after Russian missile strikes hit near a three-story building and a critical infrastructure facility in Kharkiv, the Mayor of the city Ihor Terekhov wrote on telegram. Russia launched 194 attack drones and 67 missiles across Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian air defenses shooting down 36 rockets and 186 drones, according to the Air Force Command of Ukraine. EPA-EFE/SERGEY KOZLOV It noted, though, that as the complaints from participating workers and others increased, Alabuga Start had become more politicised, and some host countries in Africa had begun to take action against it. It said Burkina Faso had apparently halted recruitment, while Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania had made moves to regulate recruitment. The report said Uganda had created a bilateral labour agreement with Russia that could cover Alabuga Start, while Kenya and Tanzania had reportedly discussed creating such an agreement. GI-TOC noted that though recruitment initially focused on Africa, it now ranged further, including Asia and particularly Latin America. GI-TOC said that according to the definition of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, Alabuga Start 'does not constitute a clear-cut case of human trafficking … but something that is more akin to fraudulent exploitation'. It found that Alabuga's failure to inform the recruits that they were going to Russia to make drones did amount to an element of human trafficking under the convention. However, there was not a wholesale denial of the participants' rights, including because they did receive pay and other benefits that were promised. And they were allowed to leave after their contracts ended. The ambiguity was reflected in participants' divergent views, 'which varied from feelings of exploitation to acceptance of the working conditions'. Highly irregular The report concluded, nevertheless, that 'the Alabuga SEZ recruitment programmes constitute an exploitative use of juvenile and migrant labour to support the Russian war economy. It is a highly irregular arrangement that shows the lengths to which Russia is having to go to sustain its military supply chains. 'There is a clear disjoint between the upbeat promises of the glossy marketing campaign made to young women from predominantly the Global South and the harsh realities of the working conditions, and the deception, coercion and risks to safety that the work exposes them to. 'By concealing the true nature of Alabuga's role in producing military drones it denies potential recruits the opportunity to make an informed decision about what they are undertaking as applicants.' The report recommended that countries from which Alabuga Start participants had been recruited should: Contact these participants through their embassies in Russia to ensure their welfare; Investigate the programme and the safeguards for participants; Identify the local intermediaries and ask them to stop promoting the programme; and Stop issuing travel documents to prevent their citizens from participating in the programme. International partners of these countries should share information with source countries of Alabuga Start participants about the company's role in the war economy and the treatment of migrant workers. They should also support the development of alternative work and education opportunities for migrant workers. Daily Maverick did reach out to Alabuga Start for comment, but had receive not response at the time of publication. Their comment will be added should they choose to comment at a later stage. DM
Daily Maverick
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
We should all try to honour the memory of veteran organised crime researcher Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane
Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane's work on policing and organised crime can be seen as intended to strengthen the viability of South Africa's democracy. At the time of her death there was no sense that she had lost any of her determination to make a difference. Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane, who died Saturday 12 April at the age of 62, was a veteran researcher on policing and violent organised crime in South Africa. At the time of her death Jenni was working for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) and advising the South African government on a national strategy against organised crime. She had deep insight into organised crime. At her death she was perhaps the foremost South Africa expert on extortion, having written GI-TOC reports on the construction mafias, on the extortion economies in Gauteng and Cape Town, as well as on infrastructure (cable) theft and the sources of illegal firearms. The depth of her knowledge means that her absence will be sorely missed. Jenni joined GI-TOC in 2019. However, her work on organised crime goes back more than 20 years before that. An appreciation of the contribution that she made also needs to say something about her extensive experience in the field which provided her with exceptional access and insight. It seems reasonable to say that she had knowledge of many worlds. Network of Independent Monitors In an interview she gave to South African Crime Quarterly (SACQ) in 2010, after she was appointed secretary of police, Jenni said: 'I am from KwaZulu-Natal and I was politically active in youth structures during the 1980s and early 1990s. During this time I also started monitoring political violence for the Network of Independent Monitors (NIM).' According to Chandré Gould of the Institute for Security Studies, Jenni was a co-founder of NIM which was set up towards the end of 1992. Advocate Themba Masuku, who worked with her between 1998 and 2000, says that 'she did great work with her monitoring of political violence in KZN. My initial exposure to the methodology of working in communities affected by violence was through her work at NIM.' By the late 1990s the endemic political violence that characterised the early 1990s in KwaZulu-Natal, was largely over. But having worked on the ground in the province, Jenni seems to have been strongly aware that the violent political conflict of the early 1990s would have a longer legacy. Her concern with addressing the legacy of violence was partly carried forward in work on community police forums (CPFs). According to Masuku, in the late 1990s NIM played an important role in building community policing forums in KwaZulu-Natal. 'During that period these forums were highly contested by rival political parties. She was able to navigate the sensitive issues which divided people and get them to work together. She was a champion of the role CPFs could play in ending violence through building community cohesion, dialogue and development. She spent many hours talking to community leaders across the political spectrum and was able to build trust which enabled NIM to mediate conflict. She often succeeded.' Her engagement with political violence was also reflected in a 2005 report that she and her husband, Kevin Qhobosheane, wrote on the availability of weapons and ongoing conflict in the Richmond area in KwaZulu-Natal. This interest in political violence, organised crime and their links to the market in illegal firearms, would be carried forward by her throughout her life. Another dimension of her work on policing, published in 1995, was the co-authored NIM report Breaking with the Past. Under apartheid, police abuses against political detainees and other activists and members of the underground received the lion's share of public attention. This report showed that practices such as torture were widespread, especially among police investigative units. Alleged extrajudicial executions by police were a recurring phenomenon in KwaZulu-Natal. Jenni's versatility and boldness is reflected in Masuku's memories of her from 1998, when she was still working with NIM in KwaZulu-Natal. 'Jenni invited me to do some work with her in Northern KwaZulu Natal, around Kosi Bay, Ngwavuma and the Border area. I was excited until l discovered what the work was about. It was about trying to identify the routes that criminal syndicates used to smuggle vehicles to Mozambique. I remember going with her into very remote areas. In one area we used a makeshift boat to cross a river to interview community members. The research led to other interesting discoveries related to illegal firearms. 'This research took us to the KwaDukuza/Stanger area. She followed the trail, also meeting community leaders in these communities. I remember that when she met community leaders she hardly took any notes. But the notes and reflections she produced later were exceptionally detailed as if she had used a recorder.' From political violence and policing to organised crime In the 2010 interview with SACQ Jenni said her experiences in NIM 'brought me in contact with the police and I became aware of the challenges associated with policing and private security. During the 1990s my late husband was among those from African National Congress (ANC) structures who were integrated into the SAPS as part of its transformation. It was also through him that I obtained good insight into policing. In 1999 he left the police and we set up a consultancy. Our first job in fact was for the National Secretariat for Safety and Security, as it was then called (now the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service). Most of our consulting work was research and facilitation related to policing.' This included work with the government, civil society and the private sector as well as work on policing in Africa including in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. 'After a time my husband became ill and it became impossible to travel,' she said. Work during this period included consulting for NGOs on crime- and security-related issues. Examples of this include her pioneering work on the private security industry for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), published in 1999 as Policing for Profit, and the jointly authored 2000 report, Testifying without Fear, on the national witness protection programme for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. The latter, and some of her later work, also involved Kevin, with whom she had established the consultancy Injobo Nebandla in 2000. A major assessment of theirs on the infiltration of transnational organised crime in South Africa was published by the ISS in 2003. The fact that Jenni was against xenophobia did not mean that she was not interested in documenting foreign criminal groups and their association with specific forms of organised crime. Knowing that most foreign nationals are not involved in criminal activity, it was nevertheless important to understand how international networks operated. Kevin had been involved in the ANC underground in the 1980s and early 1990s, as documented in the film Memories of Rain. He passed away in 2008. According to a family obituary 'she continued to honour his memory and wore her wedding ring until the day she died. She helped to raise Kevin's son Simphiwe, Kevin's daughter Nontokozo and Simphiwe's daughter, Megan, who she treated as her own child.' In 2006, Jenni was appointed to head up the Business Robbery Strategy Project at Business Against Crime. During this period she was the principal researcher and author of a study on organised crime that included interviews with imprisoned perpetrators. The report – Gentlemen or Villains, Thugs or Heroes? The Social Economy of Crime in South Africa – was published by the South African Institute for International Affairs in 2007. Jenni wrote or co-wrote most chapters in the book including dedicated chapters on cash-in-transit gangs, vehicle hijacking and Nigerian groups involved in the drug trade. Governance of police Kevin had been part of uMkhonto weSizwe and it is evident that Jenni had connections with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal. After Kevin's death, Jenni appears to have continued to be regarded as a trustworthy person by the ANC in the province. Consequently, in September 2009 Jenni was appointed by the then police minister, Nathi Mthethwa, as national secretary of police and she ran the National Secretariat until August 2014. In February 2015, she was appointed administrator of the Safety and Security Sectoral Education and Training Authority, a position she occupied until August 2017. There can be no question that she saw her role in these bodies as supporting government efforts to address crime. She was not someone who tolerated corruption or who sought to promote or excuse State Capture. However, in the hurly burly of the conflicts that permeated the political world that she interacted with, she may have at one time or other done some things that she later regretted. Contemporary concerns One thing I only found out about her recently was that she cared deeply about horses. According to ISS researcher Dhiya Matai, who got to know her recently: 'She was passionate about rescuing and training horses. She loved her horses. Nothing was more important to her than their comfort and their happiness. She allowed them to not be 'high performers' but live happy and comfortable lives.' A few months after meeting Jenni in 2024, Dhiya started helping her with exercising her horses on Sunday mornings. Recently Jenni had committed herself to work on reducing firearm crime in South Africa. She was working, in a dedicated and purposeful way, to encourage police to strengthen measures to identify the sources of illegal firearms and to stop the supply. Illegal firearms account for the vast majority of firearm crimes in South Africa, and the deaths, disability, other critical injuries and fear that they contribute to. One of her last work engagements took place in early April at the Policing Summit hosted by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu where she gave a presentation in the session on SAPS responses to organised crime. She was living in Kensington, Johannesburg. Some of us who spoke to her at the summit heard that she had encountered intruders at her house. She had hired security guards because she feared for her safety. The intruders had been armed with firearms and she had employed an armed service to protect her. But she also felt strongly that there needed to be greater accountability by the private security industry for the firearms under their control, including measures to ensure that private security is not contributing to the supply of illegal firearms. Fearlessness In a message expressing his sadness at her death, GI-TOC director Mark Shaw said that she 'did an enormous amount of work on some of the hardest organised criminal areas in South Africa. She was absolutely fearless, presenting and engaging from community groups to the highest levels of government' and 'was a woman of great courage, principle, integrity and humour. … She never stood on formality, talked straight and worked only to achieve a better world.' Masuku says that 'Jenni was fearless and did work that was hair raising but important for this country. The security research sector has lost a giant who was not scared to do the hard and often dangerous work.' Haydn Osborne, who knew her from student politics and subsequently from violence monitoring in the early 1990s, said: 'I remember her as fearless, completely uncowed by any situation, she wouldn't hesitate to march into the underworld.' Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Prevention programme at the ISS, who got to know Jenni in the late 1990s during work on the witness protection programme, said: 'She was an exceptional researcher, who was committed and passionate about any project she was working on. She made a considerable contribution to the field and she will be greatly missed.' Jenni's work on policing and organised crime can be seen as intended to strengthen the viability of South Africa's democracy. At the time of her death there was no sense that she had lost any of her determination to make a difference. It may be impossible to fill the gap that her death has left, but all of us should certainly try to do what we can to take forward the work that she was committed to. DM A memorial for Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane will be held at Wits at 11am on 5 May 2025.
Al Arabiya
03-04-2025
- Al Arabiya
Livestock theft is central to extremist economy in West Africa
Musa was asleep in the village of Dusuman in northeast Nigeria when he was awoken by a sharp burst of gunfire and Boko Haram stole his main source of livelihood -- his livestock. 'They came at about one in the morning and started firing in the air,' said the Fulani herdsman, whose name AFP has changed for security reasons. 'My family and I fled into the bush. The extremists took 36 of my cows and 40 sheep,' he added. Livestock theft provides Boko Haram with a major source of revenue, as members resell some of the animals at local markets to support their operations in the Lake Chad region. The method of criminal financing is also used by other extremist groups in the Sahel region, where livestock is a coveted resource. 'It's an economy that feeds the conflict,' Flore Berger, a researcher with the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), told AFP. In Burkina Faso, sources in the Ansarul Islam group 'have declared earning, depending on the period, between 25 and 30 million CFA francs ($41,100 to $49,400) a month through livestock theft in the regions where they operate', Berger said in a study. Nigeria and Mali, which are the leading and second-leading livestock exporters in the region ravaged by extremist violence, are particularly affected, she added. Mali recorded nearly 130,000 thefts in 2021, more than the total combined from the three preceding years, according to the authorities in the Mopti region of central Mali quoted in the study. 'Laundered' 'The practice has been happening for centuries across the Sahel,' added the study, noting that the thefts were once 'almost cultural' and widely accepted. But in the last 15 years, extremists have got in on the act and thefts have become violent operations in which livestock farmers have sometimes been kidnapped or killed. In Niger last year, 'more than 600' animals were stolen by extremists in a hamlet in the Ouallam region, near the Malian border, and an owner was killed, a local source told AFP. In the Lake Chad basin of northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram is the main perpetrator of thefts. Its splinter group, the ISIS West Africa Province (ISISWAP), instead prefers to impose taxes on local livestock farmers, said Nigerian GI-TOC researcher Kingsley Madueke. In the central Sahel -- Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso -- the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) dominates the illicit trade due to the vast territory under its control and its local networks. Stolen livestock is then sold through well-established channels involving agents, intermediaries, transporters, traders, butchers or 'corrupt' local officials, Berger said. 'Through these 'commercial partners', the extremists have access to intelligence and sustain themselves in the forests,' said William Assanvo, a researcher from the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies. Some of the livestock is sold at local markets, with the rest exported. Stolen animals from Mali, for example, are 'laundered' by being mixed with herds of legal livestock then sent to countries such as Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso or Niger, Berger said. 'Slow-going' As such, Madueke said there was a need to target auxiliary networks. The cross-border nature of the illicit trade also requires regional cooperation that is not always easy given the geopolitical situation in west Africa. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have all withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc to form the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). 'We sent at least three letters to the Malian authorities in 2024, as we recorded an increase in the influx of livestock from Mali,' an Ivorian security source said. 'We need collaboration to block the network. For the moment, it's slow-going.' According to the researchers, armies in the Sahel, bandits, civilian militia and rebel groups in Mali also steal livestock.
