Fulanis spreading violence, disrupting power, festering instability in Africa — Investigation
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An investigation has revealed that the Fulani tribe is responsible for disrupting political power and economic stability in at least twelve African countries, particularly in West Africa.
This is a result of a painstaking investigation carried out by a Europe-based journalist/ investigator.
The affected countries include Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic (CAR), Tchad, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
He noted that wherever they get the opportunity of ruling, they strive to stay put and would rather the country have burned than step down.
According to a report, almost 70% of Africans now live in a country where armed conflict and other violence is worse than it was 10 years ago.
The 2022 Ibrahim Index of African Governance found that “almost 70% (69.3%) of Africa’s population lives in a country where the security and rule of law environment is worse in 2021 than in 2012, mostly driven by a worsening security situation.”
It attributes this trend to increasing levels of violence against civilians and deaths from armed conflicts across the continent.
In the report entitled “Bloodshed across Africa“, it noted that “numerous countries and regions across the African continent are beset by conflict, making any progress toward improved quality of life and better government near impossible.
“There have been 23 successful and attempted coups on the African continent since 2012,” the report notes.
These countries are Mali, Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Niger, Sudan, Eritrea, Benin, Central Africa Republic, Libya, Comoros, Burundi, Chad, Egypt, DRC, Lesotho, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Ethiopia.
Highlight into a few countries will suffice…
Senegal
A recent example is Senegal where another Fulani is in power in Senegal, a country where they are a minority, yet there is political unrest in the country.
Macky Sall, the president of Senegal, is the incumbent for 11 years and 67 days.
According to Wikipedia, President Macky Sall is a politician who has been President of Senegal since April 2012. He was re-elected President in the first-round voting in February 2019.
Under President Abdoulaye Wade, Sall was Prime Minister of Senegal from July 2004 to June 2007 and President of the National Assembly from June 2007 to November 2008.
After coming into conflict with Wade, he was removed from his post as President of the National Assembly in November 2008; he consequently founded his own party named the Alliance for the Republic (APR) and joined the opposition.
Placing second in the first round of the 2012 presidential election, he won the backing of other opposition candidates and prevailed over Wade in the second round of voting, held on 25 March 2012.
Senegal, one of Africa’s bastions of stability, is currently facing its gravest threat of unrest in decades.
Days of violent clashes erupted late last week between security forces and supporters of Ousmane Sonko, the 2024 presidential candidate and leader of the opposition PASTEF party sentenced in absentia on Thursday to two years in prison for “corrupting the youth.”
As of Monday, at least 16 people had reportedly been killed and hundreds of others injured, while police had arrested around 500 people across several cities.
The unrest is the worst seen for decades in a country often held up as a beacon for democracy and stability in the region.
Days of violent clashes erupted late last week between security forces and supporters and was acquitted on an accompanying rape charge.
As of Monday, at least 16 people had reportedly been killed and hundreds of others were injured, while police had arrested around 500 people across several cities with internet and social media access restricted, and roadblocks erected on key transport routes.
Gambia
Another Fulani, Adama Barrow, is ruling Gambia.
Adama Barrow is a Gambian politician and real estate developer who has served as President of the Gambia since 2017.
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Born in Mankamang Kunda, a village near Basse Santa Su, he attended Crab Island Secondary School and the Muslim High School on a scholarship.
He succeeded Yahya Jammeh.
Yahya Jammeh was the president of Gambia for more than 20 years. He is accused of murder, rape, torture and other alleged crimes committed during his rule.
He is currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea and has been warned not to return home by the Gambian government.
Gambia does not have a history of ethnic conflict.
The recent tension has its roots in a series of vitriolic campaign speeches Jammeh gave to supporters in June 2016 where he referred to Mandinkas as ‘enemies and foreigners’ and threatened to ‘bury them six feet under.’
The inflammatory remarks hung heavy in the air – no more so than in the Foni region where Jammeh hails from and where Jola, Mandinka, and Fula communities have lived side by side and intermarried for generations.
Up until the 2016 election Jammeh, a Jola, balanced the country’s ethnic communities in his cabinet and ministerial posts, but his lurid statements on the campaign trail led many Mandinka, the largest ethnic group in Gambia, to abandon Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) when they went to the polls on 1 December 2016.
On October 18, 2020, a Gambian Minister told his Fulani tribesmen to vote for the current regime based on tribal sentiments, using tribe, religion, etc. to divide the people.
Guinea Bissau
Guinea Bissau is another country under turmoil from Fulani escapades.
The President, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, dissolved parliament last year after falling out with Members of Parliaments, leading to the legislative election on Sunday in a highly anticipated election to fill the country’s national legislature.
What is holding Guinea-Bissau’s growth back?
According to a World Bank report, “fragility and political instability, a weak human capital base, and a “missing” private sector are the three main constraints identified by both the Country Economic Memorandum and the Economic Update reports.”
It noted that Guinea-Bissau has a history of political and institutional fragility dating back to its independence from Portugal.
“Chronic political instability has been detrimental to the economy in several ways, including through causing a sharp decline in investment and development financing,” it added.
Other countries under the Fulani violent spell are Cote D’Ivoire, Niger Republic, and Sierra Leone.
An analyst observed: “In Central African Republic, it took a Civil War, and near-genocides to get them out of power. Before I forget, they are also the HEGEMON in the Republic Of Tchad.
“The instability in Guinea Conakry is caused by them, just like the problems in Mali, and Burkina Faso are consequences of their inability to grab power in those countries.”
In the political outlook in Nigeria, he said: “Look at the pitiable situation of Nigeria on account of their domination of the country’s politics, and governments. Just too bad!
“The Bantu peoples in West, Central, and even East Africa, MUST find a way of freeing themselves from the Fulani yoke,” he added. Read more.
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