Religion is not the driving force behind recruitment to jihadist groups says UN

A Nigerien soldier stands guard in a street near a market in Banibangou, a town in the west of Niger, on November 6, 2021, where 69 people died in a jihadist ambush on November 2, 2021. AFP - BOUREIMA HAMA

Poverty and the prospect of better-paid work, rather than ideology, are what fuel recruitment to jihadist and other violent groups in Africa, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The conclusion casts doubt on conventional wisdom that religious doctrine is the main lure for joining groups like Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and the Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).