Tag Archives: Fulani

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Mali News | Fulani Muslims

Fulani Malians face vulnerability to radicalization as marginalization and Islamist conflict persist
  • Spread throughout West and Central Africa, the semi-nomadic ethnic Fulani are being targeted in Mali by Islamist groups like the Massina Liberation Front (MLF).
  • The MLF have carried out targeted assassinations of critics as violence has spread from Mali’s desert north to its more populous southern cities.
  • Observers worry that the spread of Islamist sympathy amongst the Fulani following reports of targeted violence by the military could regionalize the current conflict.

“We see Fulanis as very marginalized in Mali, even from their own leaders. … They are forming a rebellion.”

Read the full story at Reuters.

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity
Tensions increase between West African pastoralists and the nations they migrate through as conflict alters movement routes
  • As threats from Boko Haram alter their routes from the Sahel to coastal countries, nomadic Fulani and Tuareg herders find their practices in conflict with farmers and environmentalists in Ghana.
  • The pastoralists contribute to deforestation and other forms of land disruption as they clear areas for their livestock to graze, disrupting agricultural economic activity and increasing farmer insecurity.
  • Environmental officials propose designating land for herders and educating them in sustainable land-management practices and economic diversification will be necessary to prevent long-term environmental destruction and secure long-term livelihoods for the nomadic communities.

“They move because their environment is not good for them and their animals. What do you do if you have hundreds of cattle and have nothing to feed them?”

Read the full story at the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

(Image Credit: Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters)