The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has released a new report examining the claims of religious persecution involving Fulani herdsmen in Africa. The congressionally mandated panel of experts, activists and scholars who advise the White House, State Department and Congress on issues of religious freedom released a fact sheet exploring the role that religion plays in the escalating violence being committed by and against Fulani communities in West and Central Africa.
The Fulani people are considered to be the largest nomadic ethnic group in the world; they are predominantly Muslim and linked to livestock raising. The global Fulani population spans millions across more than a dozen countries in the Sahel and West Africa.
The report comes as highly-armed radical Fulani extremists (especially in Nigeria) are regularly accused of carrying out overnight attacks against predominantly Christian farming communities in agricultural-rich regions, going so far as to kill innocent people, burn homes and displace entire tribes from their farms and homes.
“Fulani militia violence is commonplace in Africa where political, ethnic, and resource-based violence has taken on sectarian dimensions. In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, incidents of suspected Fulani militants burning churches and attacking predominantly Christian villages and Christian religious ceremonies have led to allegations that suspected Fulani fighters are committing genocide against Christians,” the report says.
Anietie Ewang, a researcher with Human Rights Watch based in Nigeria, previously told Christian Post that among the factors driving violence in the Middle Belt of Nigeria is the increasing desertification of Nigeria, leading to increased migration of herders from the north.
Before concluding its report, USCIRF stressed that there are many examples of Fulani people living peacefully and promoting harmony with other ethnic groups in countries like Guinea, Ghana, and even Nigeria.
“The drivers of this violence are complex and multifaceted, and the extent to which religious ideology plays a prominent role remains a subject of debate,” the report stressed. “Yet, violence involving Fulani communities is aggravating religious tensions in a region where religious freedom violations are common.”
USCIRF recommends the U.S. government invest in “analysis that identifies the perpetrators of violence by and against Fulani groups and their motivations, especially in regions where these dynamics overlap with interreligious tensions.”
Source: christianpost.com
