The exit and return of North African fighters in the Islamic States

The Islamic State (IS) has been spreading their influence across borders. UN figures state that there were an estimated 20,000 foreign fighters involved with IS. Few countries in Africa or Europe are exempt when it comes to supplying foreign jihadists. North Africa has played a major role in "exporting” fighters to IS with approximately 6,000 fighters originating from African countries such as Morocco, Libya and Tunisia.

According to a report released by the Small Arms Survey in July, Moroccans stand as the largest share of foreign fighters coming from North Africa. Most of them are known to be experienced and able to serve in senior military roles within IS. Tunisians are seen as less experienced and tend to fill the junior roles, responsible for carrying out risky front-line attacks in order to prove themselves.

So how and why are these people leaving their homeland to join the fighting in Syria becomes the core question for many of us looking in from the outside.

There are four main factors that could explain why Africans in particular are attracted to IS; religious, political, economic and social.

Islam has a significant presence in North Africa; Pew Research Centre asserts that more than 90% of people in the Middle East-North Africa region are Muslim and this percentage is still growing. A large number of African fighters who traveled to Syria have claimed their motive for doing so is a religious calling in order to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and the Levant. While religion is a commonly recurring theme in the reasoning for these people to join the fighting, others believe this is disingenuous. Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi, a Syrian scholar and Islamic leader; opposed to both the Assad regime and IS; recently said on ABC that "the actions of ISIS contradict the Shariah, their claims to a caliphate are invalid, and that fighting against them is a legal obligation for those in the region in order to dismantle their criminal entity." He goes on to write; "ISIS uses Islam and fanciful notions of jihad to recruit the youth and deceive Muslims around the world who feel oppressed by conjuring dreams of establishing an Islamic State from China to the Atlantic that would protect their interests."

While many fighters join the Islamic State for a perceived religious purpose; Islamic organisations globally have renounced the Caliphate and its methods and branded its use of Islam as propoganda. From the perspective given by Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi, IS is un-islamic and other factors need to be taken into account when exploring the motivations behind those who join IS.

In Morocco, the political situation is highly linked with religious status. Although Morocco is considered as the most stable country in Africa, the divergent interpretations of Islam have caused a rift within the religion itself.

Between 2008 and 2011, the Moroccan government cracked down on Salafists and radical religious leaders. A report by the Small Arms Survey shows that there might be as many as one third of the former political prisoners who have gone to join IS, since being released following their arrest in the crackdown. The fact that some of them have prominent anti-government reputations may also have attracted many young followers. Many previous detainees also found themselves having difficulties assimilating back into society. On top of that, the Moroccan government has turned a blind eye towards the mobilization of Moroccan jihadists to IS, since they took advantage of it as a way to reduce instability domestically.

As for the birthplace of the Arab Spring; Libya and Tunisia, the impacts left from the uprising have driven these countries' young men and women into another "revolution". On the PBS Newshour program, correspondent Yasmeen Qureshit visited Tunisia and found out there were many cases where during the Arab Spring, a number of people had lost their family members or their jobs. These vulnerable people have been more easily manipulated by IS propaganda. During an interview, a Tunisian political analyst, Youssef Cherif, told the correspondent; "You have people who are really fed up with their lives in Tunisia, fed up with the economic situation, fed up with the political situation. The propaganda of ISIS portrays the self-proclaimed state of ISIS as paradise on earth, where you get jobs, money, wives."

What Youssef said not only reflected the shaky economic and political situation resulting in the growing number of Tunisian jihadists going to Syria, but it is also an indication that what the people really want, is true peace and stability in their lives.

Another point made by the correspondent throughout the program and by the Small Arms Survey was; that while the wide spread use of social media and the Internet has been an effective tool for IS recruitment, a considerable number of African fighters were joining IS through face-to-face or personal contact. Many of these people are introduced by family members or friends who were already fighting in Syria, and so the recruitment started to snowball.

Despite some African fighters returning home due to the fact that IS is gradually losing ground or not meeting their expectations; many are unable to reintegrate back into society. The challenges North African countries face are not only the exit but also the return of jihadists. Governments’ unwillingness to help the returned fighters contributes towards this growing problem.

Currently IS, and the instability in the Middle-East is still a source of tension for a number of world powers. Russia, who back the Assad government in Syria, recently initiated bombardments on IS claimed territories in what the former-Soviet states Orthodox Christian Church referred to as "holy war.” While across the Pacific, the US continues to work with “moderate-rebels” to oppose both Assad and IS. The concerns over the growing number of foreign fighters from Africa have in turn shed light on continuing unsolved national and regional instability. In order to find a solution to these problems, a greater understanding of the political and economic situation at the grassroots is required. The continuing stream of foreign fighters joining IS cannot be seen as a mere consequence of a religious call for jihad.

This article was published in the daily newspaper, "the China Post" in Taiwan, and an online news website "London Globalist" in the U.K., in 2015.

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