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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:State Policies, Local Prejudices and Cattle Rustling along the Ghana-Burkina Faso Border
Author:Tonah, SteveISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:70
Issue:4
Pages:551-567
Language:English
Geographic terms:Burkina Faso
Ghana
Subjects:ethnic relations
Kasena
Fulani
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Ethnic and Race Relations
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1161472
Abstract:This article analyses the complex relations between Kassena agropastoralists and Fulbe nomadic pastoralists living along the Ghana-Burkina Faso border. Population pressure, deteriorating economic and ecological conditions and the ensuing competition for scarce resources are identified as the factors underlying the growing conflict among the Kassena on the one hand and between the Kassena and the Fulbe on the other. The article shows that the two groups have been affected differently, with each group adopting appropriate coping strategies. Generally, the sedentary Kassena are better placed to defend their interests than the nomadic Fulbe. Even though both groups are affected by the irrigation projects sited in the area by the Ghanaian government, it is the Kassena who are able to induce the project management to take their interests into consideration. The article also indicates how the rise in cattle rustling along the border, fuelled by local prejudice and facilitated by the Ghanaian government's policy of expelling 'alien' (i.e. Fulbe) herdsmen, has led to tension among the various groups. At the core of the problem is the issue of protection, control and access to dwindling and deteriorating resources. Only when officials on both sides of the border cooperate effectively to resolve the problems associated with crossborder stock theft can peaceful coexistence be guaranteed. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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