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Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa

Issue

17

March–April

2021

Summary highlights

1. The evolution of the illicit economy in northern Mozambique.

   The conflict in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, has changed dramatically in the past year. The approach of the insurgents has shifted since they took control of the town of Mocímboa da Praia in August 2020, in sharp contrast to previous hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, while the Mozambican military response, supported by private military contractors and, lately, foreign support, has intensified. When the Islamist militants overran the small coastal town of Palma in March 2021, killing dozens of people, it marked a disturbing new escalation of an increasingly bloody conflict. A year ago, we warned that the insurgents may have been strategizing to take control of key trafficking routes and transport hubs so as to make money from the illicit economy. Our new fieldwork has found that this has not happened. Instead, trafficking networks have shifted to new and safer routes.

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2. The abalone connection: Marine-mollusc smuggling continues to play a part in the South African meth industry.

   The market in poached South African abalone has been closely connected to the trafficking of synthetic drugs since the 1990s, when South African gangs began to barter abalone with Chinese organized crime groups for the precursors to methaqualone and methamphetamine. This connection evolved over the subsequent decades, contributing to widespread meth production and consumption in South Africa. Although poaching has decimated abalone populations and domestic meth production is declining, the two illicit markets still remain joined today.

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3. Why heroin capsules have transformed Durban’s drug market.

   South Africa’s port city of Durban is almost the only known area in all of East and southern Africa where heroin is widely sold in capsule form. As a previous issue of this Bulletin explored, while such capsules are a relatively recent phenomenon, they have quickly become a major part of the heroin market in Durban. Our new research explores the impact that heroin capsules have had in Durban in terms of violence, profitability and local demand for heroin.

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4. Gold rush: How illicit gold from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo flows through Uganda.

   Uganda is a regional hub for illicit gold intended for onward export to gold-trade centres such as the United Arab Emirates. Discrepancies in import and export data, and monitoring gold prices at different locations in Uganda, shed light on the flows of gold through the country. New GI-TOC fieldwork has also revealed the dynamics of illicit gold trade at smuggling hubs and the political protection of the trade.

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About this issue

The attack by insurgents on the coastal town of Palma, Cabo Delgado, in March 2021 is a major escalation in the conflict in northern Mozambique that began in late 2017. Humanitarian agencies report that thousands of people, traumatized and without shelter, have arrived in neighbouring districts and that thousands more are on the move. By Easter, thousands more were still believed to be hiding in bush surrounding the town. As in other insurgencies, one of the most pressing questions is how the insurgents are funding and supplying themselves.

Illicit flows are a major part of the political and economic landscape of northern Mozambique. A year ago, the GI-TOC warned that Ahlu-Sunna Wa-Jama’a, the insurgent group, may have been trying to take control of key trafficking routes and profit from them. International observers continue to voice speculation as to whether this is the case.¹ Our new fieldwork has found that this has not happened. Instead, trafficking networks have shifted to new routes outside of the insurgent-controlled area, which is highly militarized.

In this issue we also report on other organized crime trends in the region. In South Africa, the trade in poached abalone (a type of marine mollusc, known locally in Afrikaans as ‘perlemoen’) has long been intertwined with the market for methamphetamines and methaqualone, as South African gangs began bartering abalone with Chinese crime networks in return for precursor chemicals for these synthetic drugs. Today, the methamphetamines market in South Africa has diversified, with supplies coming from Nigeria and, recently, Afghanistan.² However, the link between meth precursors and abalone has remained strong.

In a previous issue of this Bulletin, we reported on how heroin is sold in the form of pharmaceutical- style capsules around the South African port city of Durban.³ In this issue, we return to Durban to investigate this phenomenon in more depth: what advantages does capsulized heroin offer drug networks and what impact has this had on Durban’s violent and volatile drugs market?

We have previously reported on the impact of COVID-19 on illicit gold miners in South Africa,⁴ organized large-scale thefts at gold-processing facilities in South Africa,⁵ and violence related to gold mining in Zimbabwe.⁶ In this issue, we turn to Uganda: a long- standing, important livelihood for many communities in East and southern Africa, the gold trade is a draw for organized crime because of its high-return, low-risk nature, ease of movement and the anonymity offered in gold markets.

Notes