Fulbe (Fulani)

Main article: Population of Africa

Fulani herders are nomadic or semi-nomadic people whose main occupation is raising livestock. They mainly live in the Sahel and semi-arid parts of West Africa, but due to relatively recent climate changes, many have moved further south into the savannas and the West African rainforest belt. Fulani for 2024 are found in countries such as, Nigeria,, Niger,, Senegal,, Guinea,,,, and Mauritania Mali. Burkina Faso Ghana Gambia Benin Kot-d Cameroon

Ethnolinguistic groups in Africa in 1996

Fulani in Nigeria

Approximately 50% of Nigeria's population is Muslim, who since the country's independence in 1961 feel economically and politically marginalized compared to Christians from central and southern Nigeria.

One of the most radical groups is the nomadic Fulani people living in the territories of several countries, mainly in West Africa. Apart from religious and social factors, the pastoralist tribe has long been raiding the villages of Christian landowners in the northwest and central regions of Nigeria, whose territory they consider their own and use for grazing.

So, according to the organization "Intersociety," in 14 years, by 2023, radicals killed more than 50 thousand Nigerian Christians.

On Catholic Christmas Eve 2023, Fulani bandits carried out mass attacks on more than 20 villages in Plateau State in central Nigeria.

Fulani in Mali

For 2024, Fulani in Mali supply manpower to the ranks of Islamists.

To protect against Dogon, the Fulani either turn to Islamists for help or form their own militia. In some cases, such a militia does not want to contact Islamists in order to avoid problems with the authorities. At the same time, Fulani units, which do not want to cooperate with Islamists and advocate military cooperation with catch-ups, are a minority, are characterized by a weak organizational and command structure and a lack of resources for a full autonomous existence.

In terms of combat potential, such detachments are significantly inferior to the Dogon militia and Islamist Fulani groups.

Islamist groups Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam val Muslim (DNIM, banned in Russia) combine forceful actions with propaganda actions, trying to mediate the conflict between catch-ups and Fulani in order to attract Dogons to their side, because not all Dogon villages agree to join Dan Na Ambassag.

In turn, influential Western expert centers (for example, Crisis Group, etc.), under the guise of independent recommendations, promote the idea of ​ ​ simultaneously disarming militia groups without taking into account their role in ensuring the security of the Malian state. It is proposed to disarm both Dan Na Ambassagu and the Fulani militia fighting against Dan Na Ambassagu. If this is done, the African Corps channel wrote, DNIM, Katiba Masina and other Islamist groups will receive greater freedom of action, the recruitment of ethnic Fulani into the ranks of Islamists will not stop, and the Mali Armed Forces will lose one of the main allies (Dogons).

The Mali Armed Forces are recommended to abandon counter-terrorism measures and switch to passive defense of civilian facilities and settlements, which will mean a deliberate loss in the confrontation with terrorists. In parallel, Western human rights organizations are creating a negative information background around Dan Na Ambassagu, accusing the Dogons of attacks on the Fulani and human rights violations. Such accusations are not heard against the Fulani Islamists. 

Fulbe in Guinea

Although all the ethnic groups of Guinea - Fulbe, Malinke, Susu, Forestier ("forest") - have long been mixed, share common names, eat the same rice dishes and profess Islam, they are still divided by an abyss: habits, worldview, career and spiritual searches, ethical codes.

Fulbe - cosmopolitans and enterprising businessmen scattered throughout Africa and the world - suffered a lot from previous regimes and in 2020 sought full representation in power, opposing the third term of President Conde.

Fulbe in the Gambia

2024: The most severe form of female circumcision is vaginal "stitching" in girls and women aged 1 week to 18 years

"Female circumcision" is practiced by 7 of the 9 ethnic groups of the Gambia, with Mandinka, Diola and Hausa, which make up 52% of the population, practicing its "soft" form (so-called type 2) - partial or complete removal of the clitoris and labia minora without excision of large in girls 10-15 years old, soninka (9%) - "mild" clitorodectomy for newborns (up to 1 week), and fulbe (18%) - the most severe (type 3) - vaginal "stitching" in girls and women aged 1 week to 18 years. See Gambia for details.