ANALYSISBy Mark Moritz And Mouadjamou Ahmadou

Boko Haram has been terrorising villagers in northeast Nigeria for many years. Until 2012, the group focused its attacks on cities, where it robbed banks, and villages, where it kidnapped people to work for it or used them as soldiers.

But since 2013 Boko Haram has started targeting pastoralists living in the bush, taking herds of cattle and slaughtering herders. It is likely that cattle are a major source of income for the group and not ivory, as has been suggested.

Last year thousands of pastoralists fled northeast Nigeria to save their lives and livestock. Many found refuge in the Logone Floodplain of Cameroon. In February and March 2016 our research team – consisting of faculty and students in visual anthropology from theUniversity of Maroua in Cameroon – went into the field and interviewed pastoralists about the hardships of their flight from Nigeria and their situation as refugees in Cameroon.

Last year's flight was part of a pattern that has begun to emerge over the past three years as thousands of pastoralists have fled Boko Haram's terror in northeastern Nigeria.

What makes this forced migration different is its scale. In normal years, some pastoralists deliberately change their seasonal movements to stay in Cameroon during the rainy season in search of better pastures. In the past few years, thousands of pastoralists either deliberately stayed in Cameroon after the dry season ended to avoid Boko Haram or ran from Boko Haram's terror in northeast Nigeria. The sudden and forced migration has left them vulnerable to exploitation by local populations and authorities in Cameroon, their new host country.

Pastoralists in the Chad Basin

For pastoralists, livestock do not only provide a living, they are also way of life. In the dry lands of the Chad Basin, which encompasses parts of Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, Fulani and Arab pastoralists make seasonal movements in search of water and food for their livestock. Their movements take them across national borders. Many spend the rainy season (June to September) in Nigeria and the dry season (October to May) in Cameroon.

This movement across borders has been a way of life for centuries. Anthropologist Derrick Stenning described in detail the movement patterns of pastoralists in northeastern Nigeria in the 1950s, explaining how they used their previous experiences, social networks and scouting trips to find the best pastures for their animals. They did not migrate into areas they did not know.

One would therefore expect pastoralist refugees to adapt quickly in their new host country because they are used to moving with their herds and households. Many of them already regularly spent the dry season in the Logone Floodplain of Cameroon.

The difference, of course, is that previous migrations were planned and followed the ebb and flow of the seasons. The pastoralists now flooding into Cameroon have been forced to do so because they fear for their lives and livelihoods. As refugees they have moved into unknown areas where they have no existing networks. This has dramatically affected their ability to cope.

The effects

The sudden and unplanned migration into an unknown area has led many pastoralists to suffer considerable economic losses due to their livestock suffering from exhaustion and diseases. Their livestock are not habituated to the new pastures and have been losing more weight – and value – than usual.

In addition, pastoralists are finding it difficult to sell their livestock, which is their main source of income and means of buying provisions for their families. This is because prices have plummeted as local markets have been flooded with livestock. This has happened due to a combination of factors, including a massive influx of livestock from Nigeria and the closing of markets and borders by Chadian and Cameroonian governments to control Boko Haram attacks.

On top of this, local authorities in the Logone Floodplain have begun to view pastoralist refugees and their livestock as a welcome source of income. They increased taxes for refugee pastoralists last year from 10,000 CFA francs to 70,000 CFA francs (about US$17 to $120) per herd. In addition, local populations have been stealing livestock from the refugees, who are too traumatised to fight back. One told us:

We have become just food for them.

No official support

 

Pastoralists receive no support through the official channels – either from the United Nations Refugee Agency or from the Cameroonian government. They are "invisible" because they move with their livestock to pastures in the bush, bypassing the refugee camps and entry points that are managed by the refugee agency and the government. While regular attacks on villages by Boko Haram are reported by the media and authorities, few of the attacks on pastoralists in the bush that we documented in our interviews can be found in news reports.

The only thing that pastoralist refugees want is to be left in peace in the bush. They seek no help from governments: safety and open access to pastures is enough.

They have had enough of the problems in Cameroon and hope to return to their rainy season range-lands in Nigeria when Boko Haram is defeated and it is safe for them to do so. They wax nostalgically about northeastern Nigeria, before Boko Haram, as a pastoral paradise, without farms, field chiefs, taxes or theft – just the bush and the freedom to move in peace.

Disclosure statement

Mark Moritz receives funding from the National Science Foundation (DEB-1015908, BCS-1600221, BCS-1546061, BCS-1211986, BCS-0748594).

Mouadjamou Ahmadou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

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Around 1,000 people have marched through the streets of Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, to protest against a UN decision to send a police contingent to monitor the security and human rights situation in the country.

Saturday's demonstration came a day after the UN Security Council agreed to deploy up to 228 police personnel to Bujumbura, and throughout Burundi, for an initial period of a year.

More than 450 people have been killed since President Pierre Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term last year, a move his opponents say violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended a civil war in 2005.

Tit-for-tat violence by rival sides has left both government officials and members of the opposition dead, with more than a quarter of a million people fleeing the violence.

French embassy march

Led by Freddy Mbonimpa, the mayor of Bujumbura, the protesters marched peacefully on Saturday to the French embassy, angry at France's drafting of the UN resolution to send the police squad.

One demonstrator carried a banner saying that it was France that needed UN peacekeepers, making a reference to a lorry attack in the southern French city of Nice that killed 84 people.

French ambassador Gerrit van Rossum, who went out to address the crowd, said there was "a deep misunderstanding" about France's role at the UN security council.

He said there was "no problem" at the demonstration.

The crowd also protested outside the Rwandan embassy, accusing the neighbouring country of training Burundi rebels.

Nkurunziza's government has previously said it would only accept up to 50 unarmed UN police and that its sovereignty must be fully respected.

The UN needs approval from Burundi's government to send the police force.

Four of the 15 council members abstained from Friday's vote.

"Given an increase in violence and tension the Security Council must have eyes and ears on the ground to predict and ensure that the worst does not occur in Burundi," said Francois Delattre, the French UN ambassador.

The violence has caused alarm in a region where memories of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are still vivid. Like Rwanda, Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and a Tutsi minority.

Ambassador's warning

So far, the violence has largely followed political rather than ethnic lines. But the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said last month he feared increased violence and incitement could turn ethnic in nature.

"This time we are not waiting for the worst to occur before taking action," Siti Hajjar Adnin, Malaysia's deputy ambassador, told the council.

However, Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, said Friday's resolution was not strong enough and that the UN police would simply be observers to Burundi's problems.

She warned that the situation was "all but certain to deteriorate".

"It is not at all clear to me that a council that says repeatedly that it has learned the lesson of Rwanda has in fact done so," Power said.

"Police are not being deployed to protect civilians, even though civilians are in dire need of protection. That should embarrass us."

Al Jazeera's Daniel Lak, reporting from the UN headquarters, in New York, said: "The ability of 228 police officers who are basically monitoring human rights and helping build capacity and reporting back to headquarters – they're not really going to be able to do much to stop violence. But it is a symbolic move by the Security Council.

"They'll be telling the world what's going on there, and that's the key – the international community is back in Burundi."

Council veto power China, along with Angola, Egypt and Venezuela, abstained from the vote.

"On the question of sending United Nations police to Burundi, it is necessary to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Burundi," Liu Jieyi, China's UN ambassador, told the council.

He said the resolution did not reference these principles, which is why China abstained.

 

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has sent a message of congratulations and best wishes to the Government and people of the Republic of Benin on the occasion commemorating that country's 56th Independence Anniversary.

On August 1, the Republic of Benin celebrates its Independence Day to commemorate its freedom from France in 1960. In 1899, the French included the land called French Dahomey within the larger French West Africa colonial region. In 1958, France granted autonomy to the Republic of Dahomey and full independence on August 1, 1960.

According to a Foreign Ministry release, in her message to Mr. Patrice Talon, President of the Republic of Benin, President Sirleaf, on behalf of the Government and people of Liberia, and in her own name, extended heartfelt congratulations and best wishes as they celebrate this historic occasion.

The Liberian leader entertained the hope that the cordial relationship subsisting between their two countries and peoples will be further strengthened for the mutual benefit of their two countries.

She prayed that as Benin celebrates this historic occasion, the Almighty God will endow President. Talon with abundant wisdom and strength as he leads his people to sustainable peace and greater prosperity. LINA/PR/TSS

Lagos — DJIBOUTI has become the newest member of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), an international investment grade multilateral finance institution investing in key infrastructure projects across Africa.

Speaking from Lagos, Ali Guelleh Aboubaker, Minister of Investments in the Office of the President, expressed delight Djibouti had become a member of AFC, an international organisation with a proven track record in large-scale infrastructure investment.

He said the government of Djibouti was committed to proactively investing in essential infrastructure to drive economic growth and doing what they could attract international private investors to infrastructure investment opportunities.

"We look forward to working with AFC to deliver projects with real and positive economic and social impact across the country," said Aboubaker.

Andrew Alli, President and Chief Executive Officer of AFC, welcomed Djibouti to the corporation.

He described Djibouti is a small but important market, with natural strengths as a transport and logistics hub thanks to the government's successful free trade policies and its location at the gateway to the Red Sea.

"Djibouti offers some great investment opportunities and AFC is delighted to be assisting Djibouti to meet its full growth potential and to create jobs for its citizens," Alli said.

Djibouti is the 14th country and the third east African country to join the AFC.

The corporation's other members are Cape Verde, Chad, Ghana, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra-Leone, Rwanda, The Gambia and Uganda.

Membership enables AFC to receive preferred creditor status within the country, the benefits of which reduce AFC's investment risk, enabling the corporation to provide more competitive financing solutions.