Terrorists use food as a weapon: how Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab exploit hunger

Women receive food aid in Somalia. Terrorism creates food disruptions, undermining production systems and supply routes. Tobin Jones/Wikimedia Commons

Over the last decade, there has been growing international focus on the role of food in conflict, particularly in Africa. The continent has seen an increase in jihadist terrorism in several regions.

Violence, like that exercised by terrorist organisations, is linked with food security conditions, causing a vicious circle of hunger and conflict.