Fulani are semi-nomadic herders
BAMAKO, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Mali’s government has banned the group of hunters it says was behind an attack in which more than 130 villagers were killed.
At dawn on Saturday, gunmen surrounded a village of the Fulani ethnic community who are accused of having ties to jihadists.
The hunters had said the army failed to protect them against jihadists.
The attack took place while UN ambassadors were in Mali to discuss increased violence.
The Security Council mission met Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga to talk about the increased threat from jihadist fighters in central Mali.
The victims of Saturday’s deadly attack in Ogossagou in the Mopti region were “killed with guns and machetes”, a local security official said.
The mayor of the neighbouring village of Ouenkoro, Cheick Harouna Sankare, described the attack as a “massacre”.
Clashes between Dogon hunters and semi-nomadic Fulani herders can occur over access to land and water.
The group the government banned, Dan Na Ambassagou, which translates as “hunters who trust in God”, are an umbrella group of Dogon self-defence groups, or traditional hunting societies, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
A Dogon militia leader previously complained to HRW that the army has been unable to protect their villages against jihadist attacks so they set up their own self-defence groups.
After the attacks the government announced that the commanders of the Malian military would be changed.
Last year, hundreds of people died in clashes between Dogon hunters and members of the Fula ethnic group. — NNN-AGENCIES