BanglaBhoot
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Weak governance, porous borders and limited security make Africa a haven for Hizbollah, which has been active across Africa since its inception in the early 1980s. More than anything, Hizbollah dominates the illicit gem trade in Africa, Anita Gossmann writes for ISN Security Watch.
By Anita Gossmann in Cape Town for ISN Security Watch
Over the last year, and particularly since the assassination of Hizbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh in February 2008, there has been much talk of the possibility that Hizbollah could launch attacks on Israeli interests in West Africa.
Hizbollahs virtually unchecked presence and activities on the continent pose a security threat and works to further entrench illegal and corrupt practices in some of Africas weakest states and key industries.
The 1990s were particularly good years for Hizbollah, which enjoyed the protection of then-Liberian president Charles Taylor. Despite less favorable conditions following Taylors forced exile in 2003, Hizbollahs presence and activities in Africa have persisted.
Douglas Farah, an expert on terrorist financing operations in Africa and Latin America, told ISN Security Watch that as far as Hizbollahs presence in Africa is concerned, the permissive environment still exists, and the current is state is simply too weak to combat it.
West Africa is perhaps Hizbollahs most critical area of operation outside of the Middle East, with the group using the region for fundraising, recruitment and to operate gray and illegal businesses that help fund operations elsewhere.
Following its recent successes against Israel, Hizbollah has expanded its presence within and beyond the region. Perceived as the liberators of southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation, Hizbollahs popularity was boosted after Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, and again following its perceived victory over the Jewish state in 2006. Hizbollah has since been able to make great inroads into the more traditional Amal Movement support base among the Shiite community in West Africa.
Although the distinction between Amal and Hizbollah in Africa has at times been negligible, Amal (Afwaj al Muqawama al Lubnaniyya or Lebanese Resistance Detachment), a rival Lebanese Shiite militia, has enjoyed longstanding support among local Shiite communities, with key Amal aligned families controlling the diamond trade from Freetown to Kinshasa.
While closer political ties between Amal and Hizbollah have further blurred lines of affiliation in recent years, broader support among local communities for Hizbollah has been crucial in bolstering fundraising and allowing Hizbollah to tap into established local Lebanese business operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte dIvoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In more recent years, the group has also been reportedly active in Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, Guinea and Namibia.
Diamonds, a militants best friend
Hizbollahs notoriety in Africa stems from its involvement in the illicit trade in rough diamonds. Amal- and Hizbollah-affiliated Lebanese dealers and buyers have traditionally been at the center of the trade in conflict or blood diamonds in West Africa and the DRC.
Today, according to a recent joint report by Global Witness (GW) and Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), conflict diamonds still enter the international market, and the illegal trade in rough diamonds is on the rise. So much so, that the trafficking of conflict and illicit stones is looking more like a dangerous rule than an exception.
It is believed that Lebanese dealers and brokers continue to make use of illegal networks with Beirut, Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Mumbai. Lebanese buyers are active in all key diamond centers, as well as in more remote areas in diamond-rich West and Central African states. From Kono in eastern Sierra Leone to Mbuji-Mayi in southern DRC, buyers make themselves accessible to informal, alluvial miners otherwise subject to cumbersome, expensive diamond regulations, corrupt bureaucracy and inaccessible trading centers. While heavily reliant on these local networks in West Africa, Hizbollah is rumored to have moved beyond them in the DRC, where the group reportedly buys directly from local miners and middlemen.
More recently, evidence was revealed in a PAC report suggesting Lebanese involvement in smuggling rough diamonds out of Zimbabwe to Dubai and Mumbai. Both diamond smuggling and official diamond exports have increased as the countrys economy has collapsed. Diamond fields have been seized by the military, informal miners killed or driven away, and local residents living in the vicinity forced to dig for diamonds. According to the report, Zimbabwean diamonds are now considered unclean and a key source of financial support for the regime of Robert Mugabe.
In turn, Hizbollah benefits from established local networks, porous borders, poor internal security and limited state capacity to enforce regulations on the diamond trade.
Dangerous side effects
In February 2009, the one-year anniversary of the Mughniyeh assassination raised fresh concerns for a possible Hizbollah attack on Israeli nationals and business interests. Israel has significant commercial interests across West Africa, and Israelis are heavily involved in the diamond trade on the continent. An attempted attack on Israeli diamond brokers in West Africa was rumored to have been thwarted in early 2008, and a second warning was issued later in August, prompting Israeli intelligence officials to visit the region.
Although the threat of such an attack is very serious, it is in itself reflective of the side-effects of Hizbollahs engagement in the region. Hizbollahs operations in Africa persist seemingly unconstrained and despite international efforts to curb its activities and regulate the diamond trade.
As Liberia, Sierra Leone and the DRC struggle to re-establish themselves after years of conflict, and Zimbabwe struggles to dislodge an unscrupulous regime, Hizbollah plays a key role in embedding illegal practice within national diamond industries and entrenching corrupt political elites.
Rather than terror attacks on foreign business interests, the more pressing security threat posed by Hizbollah is its predominant role in facilitating a currency by which bad leaders and corrupt regimes are propped up, and war easily sustained by even the most ragtag of rebel militias.
Africa: Hizbollah?s Other Haven / ISN
By Anita Gossmann in Cape Town for ISN Security Watch
Over the last year, and particularly since the assassination of Hizbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh in February 2008, there has been much talk of the possibility that Hizbollah could launch attacks on Israeli interests in West Africa.
Hizbollahs virtually unchecked presence and activities on the continent pose a security threat and works to further entrench illegal and corrupt practices in some of Africas weakest states and key industries.
The 1990s were particularly good years for Hizbollah, which enjoyed the protection of then-Liberian president Charles Taylor. Despite less favorable conditions following Taylors forced exile in 2003, Hizbollahs presence and activities in Africa have persisted.
Douglas Farah, an expert on terrorist financing operations in Africa and Latin America, told ISN Security Watch that as far as Hizbollahs presence in Africa is concerned, the permissive environment still exists, and the current is state is simply too weak to combat it.
West Africa is perhaps Hizbollahs most critical area of operation outside of the Middle East, with the group using the region for fundraising, recruitment and to operate gray and illegal businesses that help fund operations elsewhere.
Following its recent successes against Israel, Hizbollah has expanded its presence within and beyond the region. Perceived as the liberators of southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation, Hizbollahs popularity was boosted after Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, and again following its perceived victory over the Jewish state in 2006. Hizbollah has since been able to make great inroads into the more traditional Amal Movement support base among the Shiite community in West Africa.
Although the distinction between Amal and Hizbollah in Africa has at times been negligible, Amal (Afwaj al Muqawama al Lubnaniyya or Lebanese Resistance Detachment), a rival Lebanese Shiite militia, has enjoyed longstanding support among local Shiite communities, with key Amal aligned families controlling the diamond trade from Freetown to Kinshasa.
While closer political ties between Amal and Hizbollah have further blurred lines of affiliation in recent years, broader support among local communities for Hizbollah has been crucial in bolstering fundraising and allowing Hizbollah to tap into established local Lebanese business operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte dIvoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In more recent years, the group has also been reportedly active in Senegal, Cameroon, Mali, Guinea and Namibia.
Diamonds, a militants best friend
Hizbollahs notoriety in Africa stems from its involvement in the illicit trade in rough diamonds. Amal- and Hizbollah-affiliated Lebanese dealers and buyers have traditionally been at the center of the trade in conflict or blood diamonds in West Africa and the DRC.
Today, according to a recent joint report by Global Witness (GW) and Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), conflict diamonds still enter the international market, and the illegal trade in rough diamonds is on the rise. So much so, that the trafficking of conflict and illicit stones is looking more like a dangerous rule than an exception.
It is believed that Lebanese dealers and brokers continue to make use of illegal networks with Beirut, Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Mumbai. Lebanese buyers are active in all key diamond centers, as well as in more remote areas in diamond-rich West and Central African states. From Kono in eastern Sierra Leone to Mbuji-Mayi in southern DRC, buyers make themselves accessible to informal, alluvial miners otherwise subject to cumbersome, expensive diamond regulations, corrupt bureaucracy and inaccessible trading centers. While heavily reliant on these local networks in West Africa, Hizbollah is rumored to have moved beyond them in the DRC, where the group reportedly buys directly from local miners and middlemen.
More recently, evidence was revealed in a PAC report suggesting Lebanese involvement in smuggling rough diamonds out of Zimbabwe to Dubai and Mumbai. Both diamond smuggling and official diamond exports have increased as the countrys economy has collapsed. Diamond fields have been seized by the military, informal miners killed or driven away, and local residents living in the vicinity forced to dig for diamonds. According to the report, Zimbabwean diamonds are now considered unclean and a key source of financial support for the regime of Robert Mugabe.
In turn, Hizbollah benefits from established local networks, porous borders, poor internal security and limited state capacity to enforce regulations on the diamond trade.
Dangerous side effects
In February 2009, the one-year anniversary of the Mughniyeh assassination raised fresh concerns for a possible Hizbollah attack on Israeli nationals and business interests. Israel has significant commercial interests across West Africa, and Israelis are heavily involved in the diamond trade on the continent. An attempted attack on Israeli diamond brokers in West Africa was rumored to have been thwarted in early 2008, and a second warning was issued later in August, prompting Israeli intelligence officials to visit the region.
Although the threat of such an attack is very serious, it is in itself reflective of the side-effects of Hizbollahs engagement in the region. Hizbollahs operations in Africa persist seemingly unconstrained and despite international efforts to curb its activities and regulate the diamond trade.
As Liberia, Sierra Leone and the DRC struggle to re-establish themselves after years of conflict, and Zimbabwe struggles to dislodge an unscrupulous regime, Hizbollah plays a key role in embedding illegal practice within national diamond industries and entrenching corrupt political elites.
Rather than terror attacks on foreign business interests, the more pressing security threat posed by Hizbollah is its predominant role in facilitating a currency by which bad leaders and corrupt regimes are propped up, and war easily sustained by even the most ragtag of rebel militias.
Africa: Hizbollah?s Other Haven / ISN
