TUNISIA MOROCCO

ALGERIA LIBYA Western EGYPT Sahara

MAURITANIA MALI NIGER ERITREA SENEGAL THE GAMBI A CHAD SUDAN GUINEA-BISSAU BURKINA DJIBOUTI FASO GUINEA BENIN NIGERIA SIERRA TOGO ETHIOPIA LEONE CÔTE CENTRAL D’IVOIRE GHANA SOUTH SUDAN LIBERIA AFRICAN REP.

CAMEROON SOMALIA

UGANDA SAO TOME EQUAT. AND PRINCIPE GUINEA REP. OF KENYA GABON THE CONGO RWANDA DEM. REP. BURUNDI OF THE CONGO INDIAN TANZANIA OCEAN

ANGOLA MALAWI ATL ANTIC ZAMBIA

OCEAN MOZAMBIQUE ZIMBABWE MADAGASCAR

NAMIBIA BOTSWANA

SWAZILAND

LESOTHO SOUTH AFRICA AfricaAmina Haleem, Paige Wilhite Jennings and Keikantse E. Phele Ethiopian Constitution devolves considerable and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World during the year suggesting that these relocations, power to its different communities, including Heritage Site and one of the most culturally carried out by the Ethiopian military, had been East autonomous governance arrangements and the diverse areas in the world. In particular, there accompanied by frequent human rights abuses, right to maintain their own language, culture are concerns over the ecological destruction of including violence and sexual assault. and history. the forests surrounding the Omo River, linked The disturbing impact of such large-scale Africa In practice, however, many of the country’s to the controversial Gilgel Gibe III hydroelectric projects has caused several international minorities and indigenous populations remain power plant. Besides generating electricity from donors to re-examine their approach towards vulnerable to human rights violations such as a large dam constructed on the river, the project support for such projects. Following on from and the loss of land and lack of access to basic services. is also designed to provide irrigation to a raft of national legislation passed in the United States These abuses take place in a political context state- and foreign-owned agricultural plantations in 2014, prohibiting development aid from largely monopolized by the Ethiopian People’s developed in the area on appropriated land. being used for any project that would lead to Horn Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), The government has repeatedly failed to displacement of communities without their an alliance of regionally based parties that has ensure adequate contingency plans are in place consent or compensation, in February 2015 Amina Haleem governed the country since 1991 and has been for pastoralist and indigenous communities the United Kingdom (UK) confirmed that widely criticized for its repressive practices. while they carry out their development projects, it was withdrawing development funding cross East Africa and the Horn, Nationwide elections in May resulted in the forcing communities off their ancestral land. from Ethiopia’s Promotion of Basic Services minorities and indigenous peoples EPRDF and its allies securing every seat in This displacement in turn leads to conflict programme and realigning its aid portfolio. A continue to face severe barriers to parliament, a process condemned by opposition between resettled communities, loss of property Although officially not connected to long- health, livelihoods, land and other rights – parties as unfair. such as livestock, restricted access to grazing land standing criticisms of Ethiopia’s villagization all issues that have weakened their ability to Among those marginalized by the current and erosion of culture. While the international programme, this change in policy came in maintain their distinct cultures. At the same government are the Oromo community, which debate continues over the dam’s ecological and the wake of a multi-donor report released by time, the erosion of their traditional lifestyles constitutes the largest ethnic community in domestic impact, the livelihoods of over 200,000 the European Union, highlighting significant has undermined their collective well-being and the country, with some estimates suggesting indigenous people, including Bodi, Kwegu, problems with the Ethiopian government’s pushed them further into poverty. For many they comprise between 25 and 40 per cent of Mursi and Suri communities, risk being severely practices, as well as a lawsuit brought by an communities, such as Kenya’s forest-dwelling the population. Though socially, economically compromised. The Kwegu people, for example, Anuak man alleging that UK development aid Sengwer or the numerous indigenous peoples and religiously diverse, Oromo are united by a who live in the south-west of the country along had funded human rights violations against him residing in the Omo Valley in Ethiopia, culture shared language, also widely spoken in northern the Omo River, are facing a food crisis due to and his family in the Gambella region. is intimately linked to access to land. Land Kenya and parts of Somalia. Despite their large widespread irrigation for plantations in the area The damage caused by development-induced grabbing and forced evictions in these and numbers, Oromo have suffered a long history that has deprived them of essential water and displacement to minority and indigenous cultures other countries, often to accommodate energy of exclusion and forced assimilation by the fish supplies. in the region has been substantial. Besides the projects, conservation programmes and tourism Ethiopian government, leading to the decline of Similarly, other state-led developments have impacts of evictions from traditional lands and parks, have not only deprived them of shelter, their pastoralist lifestyle. An ongoing source of been largely implemented without consultation loss of access to grazing areas that have supported livelihoods and essential resources, but also anger is the government’s proposed expansion of or accommodation of indigenous and pastoralist pastoralists’ livelihoods for generations, it is threaten the very basis of their identity. Elsewhere the capital city of Addis Ababa into the politically communities, causing them to lose large areas estimated that there could be an influx of as in the region, such as South Sudan, ethnic autonomous Oromia Region, which could lead to of ancestral land to foreign corporations to many as half a million workers from other parts violence and conflicts over limited resources the displacement of thousands of Oromo farmers accommodate sugar cane plantations and other of Ethiopia into planned sugar plantations in have led to the wholesale displacement of some and remove the annexed territory from Oromo investments. A recurring element in these the Lower Omo region, transforming the social communities, in the process disrupting long control. Reminiscent of earlier displacements of projects is a process of forced relocation known context for established communities such as the established ways of life. Oromo communities by the government, as well as ‘villagization’, whereby pastoralist groups are Bodi and Mursi. The government has done little as forced resettlement of other communities into resettled in makeshift villages, often far away to alleviate these pressures. While its ecological Ethiopia Oromo territory, the plan has provoked a series of from livelihood opportunities, natural resources and energy projects deprive indigenous peoples Ethiopia is a federation of nine regional states, protests by Oromo demonstrators, culminating in or basic services. Many instances of these of their ancestral lands, preventing them from encompassing a range of languages, ethnicities a student protest in December 2015 in which 10 have been linked with development assistance practising their cultural and spiritual traditions, and cultures. Besides a variety of indigenous people were killed and several hundred injured. programmes financed by international donors it has also marketed the unique practices of communities, including Afar and Anuak, there The government’s development policies in such as the World Bank. In January 2015, an these communities to promote tourism – a are also a significant number of ethnic groups, other parts of the country have also impacted internal report by its internal watchdog panel was situation that has frequently led to humiliating such as ethnic Somalis, who, as a predominantly heavily on some of the more marginalized leaked, reportedly identifying an ‘operational link’ or exploitative practices. Mursi and Suri people, Muslim community in the majority Christian indigenous peoples. This is particularly the case between funding provided by the World Bank for example, increasingly unable to pursue their country represent a religious minority too. In in the Lower Omo Valley and Lake Turkana, a and the forced displacement of Anuak living in traditional livelihoods, now rely on performing principle, to accommodate this diversity, the recognized United Nations Educational, Scientific the Gambella region. Further evidence emerged ritualistic dances and posing for photos for

74 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 75 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: Members of the Endorois community in the social fabric of the community, including Kenya perform a dance. MRG. the erosion of their language and traditions that amounted to ‘cultural ethnocide and extinction’. their claims. These included recognition of Maasai communities in Kenya have also their ownership of their land, restitution of suffered devastating blows to their cultural their land and compensation. In September practices due to large-scale land grabs by the 2014, the government established a Task Force government. Hell’s Gate National Park, in to develop a plan for implementation of the the Rift Valley and near Lake Naivasha, is the Commission’s decision. However, the Task traditional home of Maasai communities. The Force’s terms of reference limited its mandate area has strong spiritual and cultural significance purely to investigating whether implementation for the community; nearby Mt. Longonot is was possible, rather than how to implement the central to Maasai traditional religious practices. decision; the Endorois were not part of the Task There has already been displacement of Maasai Force and its terms of reference did not require occurring in the area, but now the government’s consultation with the community. The Task development of the US$1.39 billion Kenya Force made no meaningful progress during its 12 Electricity Expansion Project is expected to lead months of operation, and, to date, its mandate to the further resettlement of approximately has not been extended. 1,200 Maasai. This is according to World Bank Kenyan Forest Service guards have also been projections; civil society organizations fear that responsible for the forcible removal of another more people may be affected. forest-dwelling people, the Sengwer community, The joint financing of the project by the from their land in the Cherangany Hills area World Bank, European Investment Bank and of the Embobut Forest. The evictions occurred other donors, totalling US$330 million in foreign visitors to earn money. cultural homeland. The effects of deforestation as part of a World Bank-funded conservation international development assistance, prompted and displacement have not only threatened project. The Sengwer community have been Maasai representatives to lodge an inspection Kenya their very identity, but also deprived them of engaged in legal proceedings and negotiations request to engage both the World Bank’s The five-year anniversary of Kenya’s 2010 established livelihoods. For instance, though with intergovernmental institutions in relation Inspection Panel and the European Investment Constitution was commemorated at a festive renowned for their traditional honey-gathering to their land claims. A revealing report by the Bank’s Complaint Mechanism in October 2014. event at the Gusii stadium in Kisii County techniques, many Ogiek have struggled to World Bank Inspection Panel in May 2014, while In an unprecedented step, the accountability in August 2015. Passed in the wake of the maintain these practices as they have lost their exonerating the Bank from direct responsibility, mechanisms of both organizations undertook devastating inter-ethnic conflict that blighted access to the forest. After taking their case to the concluded that it had failed to follow the a joint investigation into the negative impact the 2007 election, it was widely lauded at the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, a ‘spirit and letter’ of its own policy by failing to of the energy project on Maasai livelihoods time for its progressive provisions, designed to provisional measure was issued in 2013 requiring safeguard the rights of the indigenous Sengwer or and way of life. In July 2015 the report was address the endemic problems of corruption, the Kenyan government to halt all land transfers mitigate the risk of violations by the Kenya Forest released, confirming that non-compliance with land grabbing and ethnic conflict within Kenyan and transactions in the Mau Forest. The case Service in the implementation of the project. In the World Bank’s Indigenous Peoples’ Policy politics. Since then, however, civil society was heard at the end of 2014, and judgment is light of the report, the World Bank scheduled a due to involuntary resettlement and inadequate organizations have repeatedly highlighted the anticipated. In the meantime, the Ogiek and meeting with representatives of Kenya’s Ministry supervision by the World Bank had caused failure to implement these reforms, resulting in organizations supporting their cause continue to of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources, widespread harm. It also concluded that this continued human rights abuses. raise awareness of their difficult situation. the International Union for Conservation of damage could have been avoided had the project’s Among those most affected by land rights Similarly, the Endorois community, a Nature (IUCN) and the Sengwer community implementers engaged in a ‘culturally compatible violations are the country’s forest-dwelling semi‑nomadic pastoralist community residing in March 2015. A week before the colloquium, consultation and decision-making mechanisms’, indigenous communities, whose ancestral near Lake Bogoria National Reserve, has however, allegations emerged of a fresh wave of further involved the community elders in territories have been appropriated by the Kenyan challenged the Kenyan government at domestic house burnings by government authorities. The planning and possessed a greater capacity to government to accommodate conservation and international levels for forced evictions from subsequent talks were condemned by Sengwer engage in the Maa language. projects, logging and commercial plantations. their ancestral land following its appropriation representatives as a cosmetic process that failed While Kenya’s indigenous peoples have One notable example is the Ogiek, who have to create a game park for tourists. In 2010, the to improve the security of the community. The been especially vulnerable to abuses relating to resided for centuries as hunter-gatherers in Endorois’ case before the African Commission Sengwer also took their case to the Paris Climate expropriation of land, some ethnic minorities the Mau Forest, a sanctuary that, besides on Human and Peoples’ Rights was decided Change Conference in December 2015, where also face other forms of discrimination. In providing food, shelter and medicine to the in their favour, and the Kenyan government they delivered a presentation highlighting the particular, the Somali community continues community, also serves as their spiritual and was required to take numerous steps to address extensive damage state policies have inflicted on to face intense scrutiny following a series of

76 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 77 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 deadly attacks linked to the Somalia-based space to discuss concerns relating to security and Authority on Development, appeared to have armed extremist group, al-Shabaab. While exclusion. Crucially, too, it served as a platform limited impact and failed to halt the country’s Case study by Amina Haleem not the only attack to take place during the for ethnic Somalis to share their traditions with ongoing humanitarian crisis. It was also year, by far the deadliest incident occurred at other Kenyans – an important step in reframing undermined by Kiir’s unilateral and unexpected Garissa University College on 2 April 2015 popular stereotypes about the community. announcement at the beginning of October when 147 students were killed by armed Somali that South Sudan’s internal borders would be Tanzania’s Maasai militants, who targeted campus dormitories in South Sudan redrawn to increase the total number of states in a pre-dawn raid. The government, similar to Having achieved independence from Sudan in the country from 10 to 28, with the stated aim and their loss its actions following previous violent incidents, 2011, making it the world’s youngest nation, of encouraging communities to develop villages responded with a range of security measures South Sudan has suffered bitter internal fighting through local resources. Though more devolution of land, culture aimed at its ethnic Somali population, which since December 2013 between forces loyal of power to local states had been a key demand of include an estimated 2.5 million Kenyan citizens to President Salva Kiir and then former Vice Machar’s rebels, the move was condemned by the and heritage as well as around 444,000 Somali refugees as President Riek Machar, of Dinka and Nuer opposition for the lack of consultation preceding of December 2015. In April, the government ethnicity respectively. Tens of thousands of the decision. published a list of businesses it claimed were civilians have been killed since the outbreak The traditions of indigenous peoples, The culture of the pastoralist Maasai suspected of being associated with al-Shabaab, of the conflict, primarily by ethnic militias pastoralist communities and minority groups are community residing in Mondorosi, including many of the largest Somali-owned loyal to either side. Close to a million people in general strongly linked to the areas in which Soitsambu and Sukenya villages of Loliondo money transfer companies, followed by an order are estimated to be in a ‘catastrophic’ situation they have long resided. Cultural practices and district in northern Tanzania is rich in for them all to immediately suspend operations according to the Integrated Food Security Phase traditional knowledge, linked closely to self- inherited traditions and social practices. and an immediate freeze of their assets. On Classification (IPC), its highest ranking of food sufficiency and local livelihoods, are reinforced Indigenous to the area, they have a strong 11 April, this time aimed at the large Somali insecurity, further exacerbated by the threat of by social institutions such as the family, clan sense of identity and spiritual attachment refugee populations, Deputy Prime Minster economic collapse due to soaring inflation. and tribe. Conflict related displacement in to their ancestral land. However, the William Ruto announced that Dabaab refugee Indiscriminate and escalating violence has South Sudan has disrupted this fragile balance, establishment of wildlife conservation camp would be closed and that all refugees resulted in sweeping human rights violations particularly affecting the country’s large areas and tourist safaris has resulted in there had three months to return to Somalia such as sexual violence, abductions, widespread pastoralist population, who depend upon their severe disruption to their way of life. Now, before they were forcibly repatriated. Though property theft and the recruitment of child herds for economic sustainability, basic nutrition the community’s struggle to maintain a the closure has so far not been implemented as soldiers by both the South Sudanese army and and social interaction. While cattle are the basis connection with their land continues amid of the end of 2015, the threats of forcible return opposition forces. Politically motivated violence of marriage contracts, conflict resolution and legal battles, aggressive globalization and greatly added to the sense of insecurity among has also divided the country along ethnic lines wealth generation, insecurity and violence – luxury tourism. the refugee population. In Nairobi, meanwhile, between the primarily Dinka leadership of arising during the decades-long civil war that Pastoralism is part and parcel of their ethnic Somali neighbourhoods such as Eastleigh the government’s forces and the largely Nuer preceded South Sudan’s independence in 2011 semi-nomadic way of life, but land alienation reportedly experienced heightened levels of membership of Machar’s opposition forces, as well as the current conflict – has placed this directly affects their ability to raise livestock harassment and intimidation by police following the two largest ethnic groups in the country. system under threat. As a result, the Food and and earn a precarious living. Cattle play a the Garissa attack. However, other smaller ethnic minorities have Agriculture Organization estimated that South central role in Maasai customs as a measure of The state’s response to the Garissa attack and also been drawn into the conflict as victims of Sudan’s national herd, amounting to some 11 wealth and are frequently exchanged between other incidents has reinforced the stigmatization targeted violence. In April, for instance, reports million cattle, was at significant risk of collapse friends, family and in marriage ceremonies. of ethnic Somalis, whom many Kenyans view emerged alleging that government forces had due to displacement, destruction of traditional The land designated for conservation in their as a threat to national security. Though it is not deliberately targeted members of the Shilluk grazing lands and migration routes, as well as territory, from which they have been evicted easy to challenge these prejudices, given the role community as punishment for their perceived attendant disease outbreaks. Protracted insecurity and are no longer able to access, tends to be that many public officials play in promoting support of opposition forces. has also pushed pastoralist herders into new and the most fertile areas for grazing livestock. them, some civil society organizations and Though a peace deal was brokered in unfamiliar areas, at times leading to tensions They are also unable to access important Somali groups in Kenya have undertaken various February 2015 between the factions, the between them and settled communities. The water sources and plants to create traditional initiatives to counter their misrepresentation. Cabinet passed a resolution postponing general situation prompted Kiir in April 2015 to medicines and treat diseases. The fact that One example during the year was Somali elections and extending the tenure of Kiir’s issue an order to cattle herders in Central and they cannot utilize their medicinal practices Heritage Week, staged in November in Nairobi parliamentary term until July 2017, effectively Western Equatoria to return to their home areas means that this aspect of their cultural and incorporating seminars, art exhibitions, annulling the provision within the agreement to following complaints from sedentary farmers knowledge may disappear. dance and musical performance. This event jointly establish a transitional unity government about the destruction of their crops. The herders, Maasai have had ongoing land disputes provided Somalis living in the capital and with a 30-month term. Another peace agreement who had reportedly fled several years prior with the Tanzanian government for over 30 elsewhere with an opportunity to celebrate their signed in August, after months of negotiations due to constant attacks by a primarily ethnic years. In the 1980s, 10,000 acres of Maasai culture together as a community, as well as a safe mediated by the regional Intergovernmental Murle faction of rebels known as Cobra, were

78 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 79 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 pastoral land was sold to Tanzania Breweries initiated legal proceedings in 2010 based on an – the majority of the decision favoured the drawn from different ethnic groups and were Limited (TBL) to cultivate wheat and barley. adverse possession land claim in domestic courts defendants. No actual damages were awarded reportedly also competing with each other for Although the Maasai villages were offered no against TBL and TCL. Not only did they seek to the Maasai, who remain prohibited from access to grazing land and water – a situation compensation and were not consulted regarding to reclaim the land they once held, they also entering the land to use its resources. The that had led to an escalation of raids between the land transfer, they were not prohibited from sought an injunction against land development villagers are appealing the decision and hope Dinka and Mundari herders in particular in the accessing most of the land to graze and water for tourism pending the court’s decision on the to resolve this dispute in their favour. months before. However, several groups refused their livestock as TBL only used around 700 acres merits. Unfortunately the Maasai’s application In the meantime, Maasai continue to to comply, citing lack of security, and tensions for cultivation. For 19 years the arrangement was dismissed on procedural grounds in 2013, suffer the effect of discriminatory state remained unresolved. These came to a fore in continued and the Maasai community retained its but the community re-lodged their case the same policies. Elsewhere in Loliondo, the early January 2016 when friction between ethnic customary ownership of the land. This situation year, requesting the court to revoke the tourism community experienced further evictions, Dinka Bor cattle herders and farmers from the ended in 2006, when TBL sold the entire acreage company’s illegally granted land title and award with dozens of homes burned to the ground Bari community erupted into violence, leaving plus an additional 2,617 acres to Tanzania damages for the suffering endured as a result of and numerous Maasai injured by Tanzanian five dead and thousands temporarily displaced. Conservation Limited (TCL), the Tanzanian their land exclusion. police during 2015. Alongside the loss These incidents reflect the fact that South Sudan’s subsidiary of US-based tourism company The case was pending until October 2015 of homes and livelihoods, the struggle to instability, while greatly exacerbated by the recent Thomson Safaris. when the Maasai community suffered a transmit the intangible aspects of cultural conflict, is also rooted in competition over scarce Since that time, the community has been disappointing loss. Although the Arusha High knowledge and sacred practices to younger resources. denied access to over 12,000 acres of land on Court acknowledged that 2,617 acres of the generations remains a very real concern – not By the end of 2015, after stalled attempts to which they have historically grazed their cattle disputed land were indeed unlawfully acquired only in Loliondo, but right across Maasai broker a lasting peace agreement and continued and sustained their traditional livelihood. – it being added on to the 10,000 acres in the territories in Kenya and Tanzania. fighting by militias from both sides, the prospects With international support, the Maasai villages most recent land transaction without consent And while the Maasai people’s identity is for an end to the conflict looked unpromising. under increasing threat, companies have been In what was considered a potential step towards profiting from Maasai imagery by associating reunifying the country, Kiir issued a decree in their products with the indigenous February 2016 reappointing Machar as Vice community to promote sales. From Land President; he made his return to the country’s Rover to Louis Vuitton, an estimated 80 capital contingent upon its demilitarization. companies are currently using the Maasai Whether these apparently conciliatory measures name and/or imagery. Maasai receive no represent the beginning of greater stability in benefit from the millions of dollars in South Sudan remains to be seen. revenue earned from this exploitation; the vast majority live below the poverty line. Furthermore, the unique visual artistry and heritage of Maasai is often misused in its Central commercialization: for example, Maasai are sensitive about the portrayal of their bodies and jewellery because beads and colours and West have distinct meanings, which, if portrayed inaccurately, can be deeply offensive. Over the last few years, Maasai activists have made Africa efforts to form a general assembly of elders to represent them in formal negotiations Paige Wilhite Jennings with such companies in order to safeguard their culture through intellectual property The year 2015 was a pivotal one in Central and protections – an important step in the West Africa, with elections in Nigeria and in community’s efforts to regain control of the Central African Republic (CAR) in which their lives. ■ ethnicity and religion were major issues. In Guinea, where political contests have in the past heightened ethnic tensions, incumbent Left: Maasai women in Mondorosi village, Alpha Condé secured re-election in October Tanzania. Carla Clarke/MRG. amid concerns about rising ethnic tensions ahead of the elections. In Burundi, President

80 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 81 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Pierre Nkurunziza won elections that many Right: A camp for internally displaced people, claimed violated the terms of the Arusha Peace mostly Muslim civilians, in CAR. Agreement, setting off a spiral of violence. In UNHCR/S. Phelps. Rwanda, voters backed efforts to amend the Constitution to ensure that President Paul winning elections in 2005 and 2010. After Kagame can remain in office after 2017, and the announcement of his re-election bid, both in the Republic of Congo a constitutional Hutus and Tutsis took to the streets in protest. referendum, reportedly preceded by a campaign Tensions increased further after a failed May of intimidation of the opposition, approved coup attempt by some members of the army, measures to abolish term limits and upper age which had historically been dominated by the restrictions, paving the way for the incumbent Tutsi minority but since Arusha had undergone President Denis Sassou Nguesso to remain in extensive ethnic integration. Security forces, state power. officials and members of the militia, the youth Ongoing conflicts involving minority groups league of the predominantly majority Hutu continued in the CAR and in parts of eastern CNDD-FDD, launched an aggressive crackdown Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). on media, civil society, protesters and members of Conflict spread southwards from northern the opposition, both Hutu and Tutsi. Nkurunziza Mali, towards its borders with Burkina Faso, went on to win national elections held in July, Mauritania and Côte d’Ivoire and even over the widely condemned by international observers as border into Burkina Faso. Conflict also displaced neither free nor fair. 2.5 million people in the Lake Chad Basin as In the run-up to and after the elections, experts Boko Haram expanded its areas of operation expressed concern at inflammatory rhetoric on from Nigeria further into Chad and Cameroon, both sides. UN Special Adviser on the prevention at times impacting on relations between ethnic of genocide Adama Dieng noted that some opposition-supporting Tutsi neighbourhoods among young people of different ethnicities and and religious groups in the affected regions. was ‘very similar to language used before and killed after being taken into custody during had promoted training on democracy, human during the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda’. house-to-house searches by security forces in the rights and the ‘promotion and protection of He expressed concern that both government aftermath of the attacks. By the beginning of the diversity of cultural expressions’. In 2014 officials and key figures in the mixed-ethnicity 2016, at least two new armed opposition groups UNESCO inscribed Burundi’s ritual dance of Central Africa opposition appeared to be trying to exacerbate had reportedly formed with the stated aim of the royal drum on its Representative List of the ethnic tensions in order to set Hutus and ousting Nkurunziza. Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This Burundi Tutsis against each other once again. At his On 18 December, based on the findings of centuries-old cultural practice, used to mark In Burundi, following years of civil war that August inauguration Nkurunziza announced an an assessment mission sent to Burundi with seasonal changes and commemorate key events, began in 1993, the Arusha Accords, which amendment to the law on religious groups and the president’s approval, the African Union’s pre-dates the colonial era and the divisive ethnic were signed in 2000, have provided a platform non-governmental organizations to limit their (AU) Peace and Security Council invoked for distinctions imposed on Hutus and Tutsis as the for peaceful power-sharing between Burundi’s involvement in public and political matters, the first time provisions allowing it to intervene basis of Belgian rule: as such, it offers a symbol of ethnic Hutu majority and its long-dominant undermining post-Arusha gains in building a in a country without permission given grave a more peaceful collective past. Tutsi minority, who comprise 14 per cent of cross-community culture and civil society. circumstances. It authorized deployment of a the population. The extreme marginalization Unlawful killings, torture and repressive 5,000-strong military mission to protect civilians Central African Republic of the indigenous Batwa, representing less than measures against civil society escalated following and preserve the gains made by the Arusha Since 2013, CAR has been consumed by violence 1 per cent of the population, remained largely the election, as did attacks by armed opposition Accords. However, the government refused to between primarily Christian and Muslim militias, unaffected by the settlement. forces. The United Nations (UN) reported in allow the AU troops into Burundi, prompting resulting in an increasingly sectarian environment In April 2015, Hutu President Pierre mid-December that at least 340 people, including the AU to cancel deployment and instead focus where civilians have been targeted on the basis of Nkurunziza announced his controversial decision both Hutu and Tutsi, had been killed in on supporting regional mediation efforts. By their religious identity. The conflict began with to stand for re-election for a third term, which politically motivated violence. Scores were killed the end of the year, UN High Commissioner the formation of an alliance (Séléka) of largely many saw as a violation of the provisions of the in early December following a series of armed for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that nearly Muslim fighters in the north who, angered Arusha Accords. Nkurunziza had led the largest, attacks on military installations in Bujumbura: 233,000 Burundians had fled to neighbouring by what they perceived as the government’s primarily Hutu rebel movement, subsequently while authorities described them as ‘enemies’, countries since April. marginalization of their region, moved south restructured as the National Council for the intimating they had all been combatants, Building on the Arusha framework, before the towards the capital of Bangui and ousted then Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense a significant number of the casualties were April unrest UNESCO and others had worked President François Bozizé in March 2013. of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party, before reported to be unarmed civilians from primarily to facilitate non-violent conflict resolution Widespread human rights abuses, mostly targeted

82 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 83 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 at Christian civilians, were committed during hostile militias. by combatants. The Dzanga-Sangha National region in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan the Séléka campaign and continued even after Despite the continued deterioration in security Park, part of the World Heritage-listed Sangha genocide, eastern DRC has been particularly their leader, Michel Djotodia, took power as the during 2015, some positive efforts were made Trinational forest located in the Ba’Aka people’s unstable. Here, up to 70 armed groups – many country’s new president. In response, a group of during the year to bring an end to the conflict. traditional home region of south-western CAR, of them reportedly recruiting along ethnic lines armed animist and Christian militias, known as In May, local leaders from different regions, suffered incursions by armed groups in 2013. among the highly diverse population – fight ‘anti-balaka’ (‘anti-machete’), were formed and by religions and ethnicities, including some from Even before the start of the current conflict, for control of lucrative natural resources such the end of the 2013 had staged a series of reprisal the diaspora and refugee populations, took part UNESCO called attention to the fact that as gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum, vital to the attacks against Muslim civilians in Bangui. in the Bangui Forum on National Reconciliation the Ba’Aka people’s lifestyle and culture were electronics industry. Following Djotodia’s resignation in January and agreed a set of recommendations on under threat: ‘The scarcity of game resulting DRC and UN military efforts to combat 2014, anti-balaka extended their attacks to other governance, justice, stability and development, from deforestation, the rural exodus and the the largest armed groups remaining after the Muslim communities, resulting in numerous issued as the Republican Pact for Peace, National folklorization of their heritage for the tourist 2013 dismantling of the M23 group continue. deaths and large-scale displacement. Though Reconciliation and Reconstruction. In June industry are the principal factors contributing Despite the arrest in April of the leader of the the Muslim population has borne the brunt of an innovative law laid the groundwork for a to the gradual disappearance of many of their Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the group has the violence since then, groups of ex-Séléka have hybrid Special Criminal Court to address abuses traditional customs, rituals and skills.’ The continued to carry out attacks and massacres also been responsible for numerous atrocities committed during the conflict. Nevertheless, polyphonic singing of the Ba’Aka, with its around Beni, North Kivu. DRC military efforts against Christian civilians. Territorially, the these measures failed to prevent an upsurge in accompanying music and dance, has been are also ongoing against the predominantly Hutu CAR is now roughly partitioned between areas violence later in the year, beginning with an inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda under the control of the Christian/animist anti- attack around the Kilometre 5 (PK-5) Muslim Humanity’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. (FDLR), responsible for numerous human balaka militia groups largely responsible for the enclave in Bangui in September and a series of rights abuses against civilians, particularly those displacement of the Muslim population and areas other incidents in the capital that killed around Democratic Republic of the Congo belonging to ethnic groups considered as rivals under the control of Muslim ex-Séléka. 100 people and displaced another 50,000. The DRC is extraordinarily multicultural, with of Hutus. Before the current conflict began, roughly 15 In November, Pope Francis visited the PK-5 as many as 250 ethnic groups and up to 700 Manono and Nyunzu territories in the per cent of the national population were Muslim. district and other sites, and called for an end distinct languages or dialects across its vast eastern Katanga province saw continuing Besides pastoral farmers and herders – including to sectarian violence, but conflict continued in territory. As elsewhere, in the DRC regional violence between ethnic Luba, a majority Bantu nomadic Muslim cattle-herding minorities such various areas around the country. As a result, a and ethnic identities have frequently been group, and members of the Batwa indigenous, as Mbororo (also known also as Fulbe, Peuhl, constitutional referendum and elections initially mobilized for political ends. Consequently, traditionally hunter-gatherer people. Both sides Fula or Fulani) living mainly in the north-east, slated for October 2015 were postponed until while the presidential elections currently were accused of attacking civilians. The conflict at roughly 4 per cent of the national population December. After some debate refugees were scheduled for November 2016 could provide is rooted in social inequalities between the – many other Muslims belonged to a more permitted to vote, though the registration an opportunity for the first peaceful democratic historically marginalized Batwa – their culture urban-based merchant class. Both groups have process reportedly only reached around a transfer in the DRC’s history, they could also and way of life under increasing pressure due to seen their lives and livelihoods disrupted or quarter of those living in camps in neighbouring pose significant risks for the country’s minorities deforestation and the expansion of agricultural destroyed by the conflict. In Bangui the Muslim countries, leaving many of the largely Muslim and indigenous peoples. Incumbent Joseph lands – and the more privileged Bantu. population had diminished from over 100,000 to refugee population unable to participate. The Kabila is constitutionally barred from seeking a The traditional forest homes of eastern DRC’s under 1,000, less than 1 per cent of the original referendum, which included the imposition of third consecutive term, but opposition parties indigenous hunter-gatherers have in several cases population, while in the country as a whole a two-term limit for presidents, passed despite and some civil society groups warn that he may been named World Heritage Sites; this is the case, around 80 per cent of the Muslim population low voter turnout and other issues. Presidential try to retain power illegitimately, for instance for instance, for Bambuti / Mbuti peoples in and had reportedly already left the country by mid elections were subsequently held on 30 by delaying the polls. Already, some Kabila around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve and Batwa 2014. By the end of 2015, an estimated 453,500 December, although legislative elections the same opponents have reportedly been subjected to peoples in Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National people had fled to neighbouring countries, day were deferred due to irregularities. Faustin- intimidation, arbitrary arrest and summary Parks. While indigenous peoples’ rights should the large majority Muslim, among them many Archange Touadéra, prime minister under Séléka- execution, while opposition protests have at times be met along with the demands of environmental nomadic pastoralists and their herds whose arrival ousted President François Bozizé, was declared been met with disproportionate use of force by management, conservation programmes have among more sedentary, primarily Christian winner of the February 2016 run-off election in a security forces as well as members of the youth often had a negative impact on communities populations in neighbouring Cameroon and result endorsed by the constitutional court. league of Kabila’s party. in these areas. For Batwa in Kahuzi-Biega, other countries of asylum has led to profound The CAR’s indigenous forest-dwelling, The continued proliferation of militias has since its designation as a national forest in the shifts in the character of some host communities. hunter-gatherer Ba’Aka people, who make up created chaos in some areas of the country, 1960s, the community has been evicted from In addition, around 470,000 people were less than 1 per cent of the national population, uprooting entire communities. As of the end much of their ancestral lands, bringing an end believed to be internally displaced within CAR have historically faced discrimination and of 2015, there were approximately 1.5 million to traditional hunting practices and resulting in by the end of the year. This included around marginalization. With the onset of violence in internally displaced people and another 500,000 malnourishment, poor health and deep poverty. 36,000 people, predominantly Muslim, trapped late 2012 some members of this community stranded in neighbouring countries as refugees. With the outbreak of conflict in 1994 their in enclaves across the country, surrounded by were reportedly among those targeted for attack Since the outbreak of conflict in the Great Lakes situation became even more precarious and they

84 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 85 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 were subjected to attack by armed groups in and contributed greatly in recent years to a damaging under government-approved concessions. outside their traditional forest homes. polarization of the country along geographic, Case study by Paige Wilhite Jennings Commercial logging reportedly claims These pressures have only intensified with religious and ethnic lines. an estimated 2,000 square kilometres of the continued deterioration in security in many October saw the first polls since 2010, when forest each year, with close to one-fifth of areas and the depredations of armed poachers. the refusal of then-incumbent president Laurent A way of life Cameroon’s total forest cover lost between Over the last two decades all five of the DRC’s Gbagbo – a southern proponent of ‘Ivorité’ – to 1990 and 2010 to logging, commercial World Heritage Site national parks – four of recognize northern Muslim Alassane Ouattara’s under threat agriculture and the Chad–Cameroon oil which are in eastern DRC – have been inscribed victory led to five months of political violence, pipeline. on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due at times waged along ethnic and religious lines. for Cameroon’s The state has forcibly removed indigenous in part to conflict-induced mass displacement Gbagbo was eventually forced out, and January peoples from forest areas to make room of people into the park and their impact on 2016 saw the opening of his trial, with that indigenous peoples for these and other projects, commonly wildlife. During 2015, the parks continued to of his associate Charles Blé Goudé, before the ‘resettling’ them in unfamiliar environments face militia attacks on rangers and poaching by International Criminal Court on charges of where they are vulnerable to poverty, armed groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army. crimes against humanity. Cameroon is an immensely diverse country, discrimination and exploitation. Displaced The illegal trade in ivory and other animal parts The run-up to the October elections saw some with over 250 ethnic groups and almost as into camps and villages on the outskirts of has sustained considerable violence in forest areas, clashes between government and opposition many languages. Indigenous forest-dwelling the forest, these communities are unable placing their indigenous inhabitants at risk not supporters, many of whom reportedly felt hunter-gatherer communities like the Ba’Aka, to practise their traditional livelihoods, only from armed groups but also forest rangers. marginalized by the naming of northerners Bagyeli, Bakola and Bedzam – who together or access essential food sources or forest Groups concerned with indigenous peoples’ to many key posts and the failure of judicial comprise less than 1 per cent of the population products. Furthermore, they are habitually rights have continued to insist, however, that prosecutions for crimes committed during the – are believed to have been the first to denied any form of compensation, as they conservation and wildlife protection efforts must 2010–11 conflict to extend to supporters of populate the southern tropical forests. Though do not officially own the land from which not in any way be used to suppress the legitimate the government as well as its opponents. The Cameroon’s Constitution specifically mentions they have been evicted. hunting and other activities of indigenous elections, largely peaceful and declared free and the state’s obligation to protect indigenous The estrangement of indigenous peoples. fair by observers, were nevertheless won in the peoples’ rights, there is a lack of understanding communities from the forest is damaging first round by incumbent Ouattara. about what specifically these rights are. Due to at every level. Their nutrition levels fall In western Côte d’Ivoire, inter-communal poverty and lack of access, many indigenous as they are unable to hunt and gather as tensions over land between ‘native’ landowners people do not have birth certificates or identity before; their health suffers as, excluded West Africa and those they perceive to be migrants or documents, effectively excluding them from from mainstream health services by poverty immigrants continued during the year. Up basic services such as health and education. and lack of identity documents, they Côte d’Ivoire to 300,000 people still remained internally The legal and administrative framework in are denied access to forest remedies for Côte d’Ivoire has over 60 ethnic groups, with displaced in 2015, following the violence Cameroon does not recognize hunter-gathering their illnesses and injuries. They are also diverse histories and identities. Past decades have of 2010–11; some of them, mainly Gbagbo as a basis for official land ownership, and prevented from passing on their skills and also seen a significant inflow of immigrants from supporters of Guéré ethnicity, have found land that is not privately owned is considered knowledge of forest life to their children, neighbouring countries, many of them Muslims, themselves dispossessed upon their return, state property. There is no legal recognition of resulting in a devastating loss of traditional drawn by the country’s relative affluence. Today as their land has been occupied by Ouattara indigenous peoples’ customary land rights. knowledge and culture; their language an estimated 35 per cent of the population supporters. The UN has worked with local To make matters worse, over recent decades and religion, both intimately linked to are Muslim, based largely in the north of the leaders to support traditional dispute resolution Cameroon’s tropical forests have been much the forest, are thereby weakened. Finally, country, while another 35 to 40 per cent are mechanisms. In addition to customary law, reduced, with the authorities all too often the rupture resulting from these factors Christian and mostly reside in the south. The there is a statutory law applicable to rural land allocating forest land to private and public contributes to high levels of alcoholism and remainder of the population hold traditional disputes, but observers have expressed concerns interests without meaningful consultation other social ills. beliefs. Ethnicity and religion have become that it is complex and difficult to implement. In with residents. The 1994 Forest Law (recently In recent years some localized access increasingly intertwined in the country’s political July 2015, the government issued a draft land revised to provide a measure of indigenous rights have been agreed for indigenous discourse due to the emergence, beginning in policy meant to simplify application of the law consultation and some recognition of peoples in ‘community forests’ in a few the mid-1990s, of the xenophobic concept of and announced plans for public consultation on traditional practices such as hunting) and the protected forest areas, but the overarching ‘Ivorité’ – an ideology that gives precedence this important topic. 2001 Mining Law encouraged the opening framework has not changed: the state still to ‘native’ over perceived ‘foreign’ citizens. In UNESCO is supporting Côte d’Ivoire’s of Cameroon’s land to commercial concerns, does not recognize, guarantee or protect practice, to its adherents ‘foreigners’ have come to efforts to inventory its intangible cultural including foreign companies, in the name indigenous peoples’ ownership rights over include not only immigrants but anyone from the heritage. Elements of the culture of parts of the of economic development, with companies their forests and the resources they contain. predominantly Muslim ethnic Northern Mandé predominantly Muslim Senoufo minority – one exploiting its natural resources on a large scale Furthermore, indigenous and other local or Senoufo minority groups. This discourse has of the groups stigmatized and disenfranchised

86 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 87 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 communities have seen their access to the under ‘Ivorité’ –has received particular attention, groups. Some Islamist groups continued to to return the Festival au Désert music and arts remaining protected forest areas severely figuring in both of Côte d’Ivoire’s entries on the operate and carry out attacks. The June 2013 festival to Timbuktu, have involved a range of restricted in the name of conservation. Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Ouagadougou peace agreement and subsequently community actors and are helping to heal rifts According to some reports, anti-poaching Heritage of Humanity. One important minority attempted accords were not fully implemented, and restore social cohesion. In 2015, Timbuktu’s patrols of park guards – working at times cultural element is the cultural practices and particularly in contested areas of the north, and mud masons completed restoration of all 14 of alongside state security forces – have expressions linked to the balafon, a musical suicide attacks and ambushes against UN troops the destroyed mausoleums, and work on the subjected indigenous people caught while instrument of Senoufo communities in Côte and civilians continued throughout the country. other damaged sites is continuing. Meanwhile, sustainably hunting and gathering, even d’Ivoire along with neighbouring Burkina Faso By the end of 2015 many civilians were still UNESCO is supporting efforts to preserve outside of park boundaries, to harassment, and Mali. The other is the Gbofe performance, uprooted as a result of insecurity within Mali, additional ancient manuscripts smuggled out arrest or ill-treatment. For its part, UNESCO using traditional horns, of the Tagbana with more than 139,000 Malian refugees in of Timbuktu by the local population in 2012 maintains that it values indigenous people’s community, a southerly branch of the Senoufo Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger and almost to prevent their destruction. Former Ansar presence in the World Heritage Site forests – group. 62,000 others displaced internally. Dine leader Ahmad al Faqi Al Mahdi appeared the Dja Faunal Reserve and Lobéké National In June 2015 the Coordination of Movements before the International Criminal Court (ICC) Park, which with Dzanga-Ndoki National Mali for Azawad (CMA), an alliance of Tuareg in September on charges of ‘war crimes of Park in the Central African Republic and While 90 per cent of Mali’s population is and Arab-led rebels, signed a peace deal with intentionally directing attacks against historic Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Muslim, with the remainder subscribing to the Malian government. However, insecurity, monuments and buildings dedicated to religion, Republic of Congo make up the Sangha Christianity (4 per cent) and traditional religions including fighting between the CMA and including nine mausoleums and one mosque’ – Trinational forest – and recognizes their (6 per cent), it also includes considerable ethnic pro-government militias, has continued in the the first time in the ICC’s history that war crimes right to hunt and gather on the reserve in diversity. The two largest minority groups are north, culminating in August with a significant against cultural heritage have been the primary their traditional manner, while prohibiting Peuhl (also known as Fula or Fulani), amounting breakdown in the ceasefire as the two forces focus of an international criminal proceeding. agriculture and commercial hunting. to 14 per cent of the population, and Tuareg battled over the town of Anéfis, Gao region. In Not only are the rights of Cameroon’s and Maure who make up another 10 per cent. October the two sides endorsed a joint road map Mauritania indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands In recent years, these differences have been the including an agreement for cessation of hostilities Despite being legally abolished for decades, indisputable, but also the considerable source of violent conflict in the country. Some and joint initiatives towards reconciliation. slavery persists in Mauritania to this day, benefits they bring through their sound Tuaregs, spurred by political marginalization and However, violence, including attacks on primarily perpetrated by members of Mauritania’s use of the environment – in sharp contrast poverty in the north, their home region, and humanitarian staff, state officials and UN White Moor ethnic group against ethnic to the extractive industries and large-scale aspiring to a separate Tuareg state, Azawad, had personnel, has spread from the north into central Haratines. In 2014 the UN Special Rapporteur plantations that have displaced them in many been in low-level conflict with the government Mali and further south. Some of it has been on contemporary forms of racism, Mutuma areas. Ba’Aka and other forest communities since the 1990s. A Tuareg offensive in early 2012 attributed to extremist groups present before Ruteere, indicated that an estimated 50 per cent rely on dead wood for cooking and curing was joined, and came to be dominated by, largely the French-led intervention, as well as to a of Haratines live in conditions of slavery. The meat, for example, and their hunting and foreign Islamist extremist groups. It eventually newly emerged Islamist armed group, Macina system is largely hereditary: those born into gathering is low-impact and sustainable, as gained two-thirds of Mali’s territory, and all sides Liberation Movement. Following an extremist slavery are under direct control of their ‘masters’, proved by the continuation of these practices committed grave human rights abuses. Islamist attack in November in which 20 people, many receive no pay for their work, are not permitted for generations in flourishing natural habitats groups at times imposed harsh law on the areas of them foreigners, were killed in a luxury hotel to leave and are vulnerable to abuses, including before the advent of mining and agro- under their control and destroyed key cultural in the capital Bamako, Mali imposed a state denial of access to basic services, forcible industrial developments. Besides respecting monuments in places such as Timbuktu. of emergency that at the end of the year was separation from family, ill-treatment and sexual the seasons and the breeding periods of In January 2013, Mali’s interim President extended to March 2016. assault. Due largely to failures in enforcement by wildlife, their communities are semi-nomadic, Dioncounda Traoré requested that France The deliberate destruction by Ansar Dine police, judicial officials and others in authority, resulting in only localized and temporary intervene, and the joint counter-offensive was extremists, themselves followers of the Salafi a 2007 law criminalizing slavery and slavery-like woodland clearance. At a time in human broadly successful in dislodging the jihadist school of Islam, of mosques, mausoleums, practices resulted in only one conviction. In that history when biodiversity everywhere is under groups, reclaiming territory and imposing state shrines, ancient manuscripts and other objects case the sentence handed down fell below the unprecedented threat, the way of life of the control. However, Mali’s Tuaregs and Arabs, associated with Sufi Islam after they took control minimum specified by law and the appeal against Ba’Aka and other indigenous communities perceived due to their ethnicity as having of World Heritage Site Timbuktu in 2012 has its leniency is still pending four years later, while offers important lessons on how to safeguard been likely supporters of the rebels, were at drawn global attention. Mali’s intangible cultural the convicted slave owner has been freed on bail. the irreplaceable heritage of the world’s times targeted by both security forces and heritage is immense and diverse, including, to In September a new law was approved, natural forests. ■ pro‑government self-defence militias; members of date, eight elements listed by UNESCO and stiffening penalties for perpetrators and officials the Tuareg separatist group National Movement drawn from a cross-section of Mali’s numerous who fail to investigate claims of slavery. It also for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) were also ethnic groups, including the Tuareg, Peuhl and broadened the definition of slavery to include responsible for abuses as the violence further other minorities. Timbuktu-based efforts to practices such as indentured servitude and created exacerbated existing divisions between ethnic revive and stimulate cultural life, including plans the opportunity for human rights organizations

88 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 89 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 Left: Haratin man in Mauritania. MRG. continued to launch regular attacks, particularly on soft civilian targets, including two days of is particularly prone to inter-communal clashes, violence in early July in Borno State that killed with 2015 being no exception: in April, for nearly 200 people in mosques and civilian example, at least 23 people were killed by homes, with similar attacks continuing until the suspected armed Fulani herdsmen as a result year’s end. A growing number of Boko Haram of a protracted feud between herders and local suicide bombings targeting areas such as markets, farmers. As they are not considered ‘native’, mosques and bus stations were carried out by despite many having been in the area for women and children. The violence resulted in decades, Fulani receive inferior treatment under an estimated 800,000 newly displaced between local legislation. June and the end of August, bringing the total Before the 2015 elections, the presidency of internally displaced in Nigeria to over 2.1 had been retained for 16 years by southerner million. UNHCR recorded in 2015 an additional Goodluck Jonathan’s party, leading to some 170,000 Nigerian refugees in neighbouring northern claims of exclusion. Initially scheduled countries. for February, the polls were postponed until Boko Haram has also had a devastating impact March due to security concerns. After what on the cultural heritage of minority communities, observers termed a generally peaceful and such as the Sukur people in Adamawa state transparent contest, President Jonathan, from the and their Sukur Cultural Landscape, which country’s southern Niger Delta region, conceded was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage defeat to Muslim northerner Muhammadu Site in 1999. The Sukur Cultural Landscape Buhari of the All Progressives Congress. This was comprises the Palace of the Hidi (or chief), dry the first time a Nigerian opposition leader had stone terraces and paved walkways dating back meeting certain criteria to bring cases on persisted in the country and accused rights won an election. centuries. Most importantly, the complex was the behalf of victims. However, there is still no groups of ‘sowing hatred and division’ between One of Buhari’s first major steps after being setting for regular festivals and ceremonies – a mechanism for victims to bring a civil suit against ethnic groups for addressing events around the sworn in was to move the military command living cultural and spiritual heritage. Boko Haram perpetrators or for the level of support and expulsion and exclusion of tens of thousands of centre for the fight against Islamist insurgency attacked the area at the end of 2014, killing compensation to victims recommended in 2010 black Mauritanians in the late 1980s. Boko Haram from the capital Abuja to the men, and abducting women and children. They by Gulnara Shahinian, then Special Rapporteur group’s birthplace in Maiduguri, Borno State. destroyed crops and then sabotaged buildings by on contemporary forms of slavery. The new law’s Nigeria As over time the armed group has extended its burning the thatched roofs and damaging granary success will, like the old, depend on the extent to Nigeria is an exceedingly diverse country, with operations into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad covers – thereby threatening any remaining food which it is enforced. some 250 ethno-linguistic groups distributed and Niger, in response Nigeria has intensified reserves of the community. Centuries-old patterns Those who fight to raise awareness of slavery across 36 federal states. At state level, efforts with these countries, as well as Benin, of land use had already been made vulnerable and other forms of marginalization affecting original ‘native’ groups are given preferential to establish a previously agreed AU-backed with the arrival of thousands of displaced to the Haratines continue to come under official pressure. treatment over other groups considered to be Multinational Joint Task Force to fight Boko area. Among those targeted is anti-slavery activist Biram ‘immigrants’ or ‘settlers’, at times leading to Haram across national borders. Nevertheless, Another ongoing source of division within Ould Dah Ould Abeid, convicted with two others tension, competition and inequalities. Broadly, Boko Haram fighters remained active throughout Nigeria, at times fuelling inter-ethnic conflict, in January 2015 and sentenced to two years’ Nigeria’s south is wealthier and possesses more the year, beginning in January with a determined is the inequitable allocation of oil revenue and imprisonment on various charges, including taking resources than the poorer and predominantly assault on Maiduguri and a massacre in Baga the environmental damage associated with its part in an unauthorized rally and belonging to Muslim north. In the area between the two, the town, in the northern Borno State, that according extraction. Ogoni and other minorities based in an illegal organization. All three were arrested in Plateau and Kaduna states of Nigeria’s Middle to Human Rights Watch estimates may have the Niger Delta, in particular, have seen their November 2014 for attending a peaceful protest to Belt, ‘native’ ethnic groups are predominantly killed as many as 2,000 civilians. Following a lands devastated and their culture weakened by the raise awareness of land rights for former slaves and Christian while Muslim Hausa-Fulani groups joint offensive by Nigeria and Chad to regain impacts of soil and water contamination, making other Haratines. The decision provoked protests in – even those who have lived in the area for control of border areas in the north under Boko traditional farming and fishing impossible. Local Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, prompting generations – are considered ‘settlers’. Many Haram control, Boko Haram reportedly carried communities have struggled for years to receive police to use tear gas to disperse supporters who ‘natives’ are sedentary farmers who have come out reprisal attacks against members of the Shuwa denied compensation, clean-up, their share of oil condemned the ruling. into increasing conflict with Fulani Muslim Arab minority in the north, accusing them of profits and a say in decision‑making. A tentative On the occasion of Mauritania’s independence nomadic pastoralists driven south by climate supporting the Chadian military. It also declared sign of progress during the year, however, was day, at the end of November, President Mohamed change‑induced desertification in search of allegiance to Islamic State (IS). the announcement by Buhari’s government Ould Abdel Aziz publicly denied that slavery grazing for their herds. As a result, this region Despite losing territory, Boko Haram in August of the creation of a trust fund for

90 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 91 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 affected communities to provide the estimated 1908, German authorities undertook a systematic overlooked. Only English and Setswana are US$1 billion required to decontaminate the area, campaign against Nama and Herero tribespeople Case study by Keikantse E. Phele officially recognized and used in Botswana. though concerns remained about the willingness that saw more than 65,000 people killed. While Historically, the Wayeyi tribe was of Shell and partner companies to contribute their Germany apologized formally in 2004, it has enslaved by Batawana, one of the eight necessary share. yet to acknowledge its actions as genocide or major groups, and were then subjected to provide compensation, though progress in The long struggle forced assimilation. Yet now Wayeyi are ongoing negotiations for formal reparations to campaigning for self-determination and the descendants of the victims was made during of Botswana’s greater recognition of their traditional the year when Norbert Lammert, President of leaders. In recent years, this battle has Southern Germany’s parliament, acknowledged that the Wayeyi for been fought through the law courts as massacres would today be classified as genocide. Wayeyi have sought to address their legal Africa Another area where colonial abuses continue recognition discrimination. In 2001, community to affect communities today is ancestral land members made an application to the High Amina Haleem and rights. Hai//om San, for example, were forcibly Court of Botswana, in Kamanakao and Keikantse E. Phele removed from Etosha National Park six decades Botswana’s Wayeyi, based in and around the others vs. Attorney General and Others, ago and have not benefited economically from Okavango Delta and Ngamiland areas, are challenging specific provisions of the Southern Africa’s minority and indigenous the tourist activities now taking place there. In believed to have first settled there during the Constitution of Botswana and the 1987 communities still struggle with the legacy of 2015, the community launched a legal claim to eighteenth century. Despite their long‑standing Chieftainship Act that supported the the region’s colonial past and the concentration access the park and control operations within it, presence in the country, however, they still lack creation of the House of Chiefs (Ntlo of power among particular political elites. This as well as to receive a share of its revenue; eight full recognition within Botswana. National ya Dikgosi). With only the eight groups has often been manifested in a range of rights members applied to the High Court to have legislation, influenced by British law, only violations – from lack of access to education their class action suit heard. Land rights remain recognizes eight major Tswana groups, while Below: Annual cultural festival celebrated by and non-recognition of languages to control of a contested issue for the country’s indigenous other minorities, including Wayeyi, are Wayeyi in Botswana. MRG. ancestral lands and traditional livelihoods – that communities today in the face of development have undermined the rich cultural traditions of programmes, such as the construction of a many communities. While in many countries controversial hydroelectric power station and a significant strides have been made towards more dam in the Kunene River. Ovahimba pastoralists equitable development, certain groups – such in the region have condemned the lack of prior as San hunter-gatherer communities indigenous consultation over the development and claim to much of Southern Africa – remain highly it will lead to the loss of irreplaceable cultural marginalized. In this context, the preservation heritage as ancestral graves will have to be of cultural practices and traditions remains exhumed to make way for the scheme. It will also an important part of a broader struggle for deny them and their livestock access to important recognition and emancipation. grazing land vital to the continuation of their traditional livelihoods. Namibia Though political representation of indigenous In March 2015, Namibia celebrated 25 years communities remains limited, some positive steps of independence. Besides Ovambo, who make have nevertheless been taken, including efforts to up around half of the population, its diverse establish a national organization as an advocacy communities include around 10 language groups platform. The ///Ana-Jeh San Trust, set up in and a range of peoples with different lifestyles, 2014 by San tertiary students with the aim of including nomadic pastoralists, hunter‑gatherers promoting education within the community, and others. Yet much of the country’s resources was formalized in 2015 along with the National remain concentrated in the hands of its white San Council (NSC). The NSC has been active at population and a small political elite, while other an informal level since 2004 and is made up of communities, such as indigenous San, live in different San communities with the shared aim of abject poverty. supporting San social and economic development. This is in part due to the country’s traumatic These community organizations have an past during the colonial era, first under German important role to play in addressing the specific and then South African rule. Between 1904 and issues of discrimination facing particular

92 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 93 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 represented, to the exclusion of Wayeyi and Gumare, with an annual festival each year communities. While the creation of a new the media for triggering the attacks, though he others, the applicants argued that the provisions that brings together young and old alike to Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social claimed to have been misquoted. were in contravention of key sections of the share song, dance, poetry readings, food and Welfare in 2015 is promising, it is important Popular hostility towards migrants has been Constitution that provided for fundamental other traditional practices with each other. that its initiatives are appropriately designed to mirrored by increasingly severe official policies, rights and the right to non‑discrimination. Unlike the largely patriarchal Tswana tribes, also reach the most marginalized communities, reflected in Operation Fiela (‘sweep the dirt’ in However, though they asked to be granted the the Wayeyi community is matrilineal and such as San, who face exploitation, hunger Sesotho), a series of crackdowns carried out in right to nominate and install their own leader women play a crucial role in the continued and poverty due to their physical isolation and urban communities across South Africa during (Shikati), establish communal boundaries and for vitality of cultural practices such as basket persistent discrimination against them. Women 2015. While the stated purpose was reportedly Shiyeyi, their native language, to be included in making. and children are especially vulnerable due to to tackle the high crime rate, by September at the Botswana education curricula, this request Nevertheless, the state’s failure to legally sexual abuse and lack of access to essential least 15,000 migrants without documentation was refused. In its judgment the Court, stating recognize the Wayeyi community has services such as health or schooling; those – making up the majority of those targeted by that it could not declare provisions of the undoubtedly undermined a key element engaged in domestic work and farm labour are police – had been deported. The same month, Constitution null and void, only agreed that of their identity – the ability to maintain particularly at risk. It is hoped that the Child the deportation of an estimated 2,000 refugees, part of the Chieftainship Act was discriminatory and practise Shiyeyi. In the context of Care and Protection Act, passed in 2015, will most of them Angolan, was announced, after and would need to be amended accordingly. the government’s refusal to accommodate strengthen educational access for indigenous their status was revoked, despite many individuals As a result, the Constitution still does not teaching of indigenous languages in schools, children, many of whom are unable to attend having resided in South Africa for over a decade. recognize all ethnic groups in Botswana equally. the Kamanakao Association has established a schools due to their remote locations. Refugees who were granted two-year temporary Nevertheless, a presidential commission of working group to train and develop capacity residence permits now face difficult choices as enquiry, the Balopi Commission, was established within communities to teach, write and South Africa their permits expire in 2016. to investigate the consequences of the contested translate into Shiyeyi, with publications for In January 2015, South Africa became the 163rd Land rights, long a source of discrimination constitutional provisions on ethnic inequalities primary schools, adult learners and religious State Party to the International Covenant on under colonial and apartheid rule, remain a and discrimination in Botswana. Their findings use. It is hoped that these resources will Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) contested issue for the country’s indigenous informed the subsequent amendment of the enable the next generation to maintain their following its ratification of the human rights peoples. During the year, community activists Bogosi Act to fully recognize other tribes not native language and, by extension, their document. Though the government had continued to advocate for greater recognition, included among the eight main tribes. The unique tribal identity in the face of official signed the instrument 20 years previously, with almost 100 Khoisan demonstrators Chieftainship Act was repealed and the Bogosi discrimination. the ratification is a historic and welcome protesting before parliament in December to Act was enacted in 2008 as a result of the Update: Since this case study was written milestone for the country. Nevertheless, South demand that lawmakers reconsider the Traditional Kamanakao case. and just prior to publication, the Botswana Africa continues to struggle with the legacy of Leaders and Khoisan Bill. While the bill was But while, thanks to the amendment of the government announced its decision to officially apartheid and profound inequalities in wealth, drafted to recognize Khoisan communities and Constitution, the Wayeyi sat at Ntlo ya Dikgosi recognize the Wayeyi. ■ land ownership and access to public services. strengthen traditional leadership, it has been for a five-year term at the discretion of the Amid stagnant unemployment and poor living condemned by critics as violating customary president, his term was not extended as there conditions for millions of citizens in makeshift law and reinforcing restrictive apartheid-era was no legal disposition to allow it. The Wayeyi housing, levels of violence and gender-based classifications. community have since made an application crime have remained high. Khoisan peoples were dispossessed of much under the Bogosi Act to be fully recognized South Africa’s migrant population, most of of their ancestral lands during colonial rule, and to install their own leader as an ex officio whom originate from neighbouring countries particularly as a result of the 1913 Natives Land member of the House of Chiefs. After years of such as Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, Act, which allocated only 7 per cent of arable land protracted legal negotiations, the Minister of have regularly been targeted in xenophobic to the indigenous populations while prohibiting Local Government has promised Wayeyi in a attacks. April saw the outbreak of the worst land sales between geographical divisions of kgotla (public gathering place) meeting that their violence since 2008 when a series of killings in blacks and whites. While the post‑apartheid application would go before the Cabinet and Alexandra township, Johannesburg, left seven government passed the Restitution of Land Rights receive a response in March 2016. dead and many others injured. While economic Amendment Act to allow descendants of Khoisan Amid their legal adversity, Wayeyi have strived frustrations and poverty contributed to the communities that were forcibly dispossessed to to maintain their cultural heritage as a way of violence, South Africa’s migrants have regularly claim back their lands, the 1913 Natives Land preserving their identity in the face of these been scapegoated for the country’s problems. A Act was used as the cut-off date for valid claims setbacks. The Kamanakao Association was formed speech the previous month by King Goodwill – yet community members argued that a large in March 1995 to promote and celebrate the Zwelithini of the Zulu nation, South Africa’s portion of their land was forcibly taken before community’s language and heritage. Among largest ethnic group, in which he allegedly called then. Furthermore, the claims period initially other activities it runs a cultural centre in for foreigners to ‘pack their belongings and go closed on 31 December 1998, when many back to their countries’, was widely blamed in Khoisan communities were still unaware of the

94 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 95 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 process or the deadline to lodge their claims. The within the Muslim community caused delays. claims process was then reopened in 2014 for an Notably, UCSA opposes the bill’s passing as additional five years to allow for compensation it believes that any formal state regulation of of claims that were not filed before the 1998 religious marriages would be unconstitutional. In deadline. Claimants now have until 2019 to seek the meantime, Muslim women remain socially compensation, but many of the claims lodged vulnerable and disadvantaged as the common thus far have been settled monetarily rather than law definition of marriages in South Africa is not by land restitution. For the Khoisan peoples, extended to include religious Muslim marriages. of course, financial compensation alone would Muslim couples are considered single and not address the drastic erosion of their cultures unmarried unless they formally register with a caused by dispossession, given that their cultural South African court. ■ and spiritual practices and knowledge are so interconnected with their lands. In August, Khoi and San leaders within the National Khoisan Council formed their own chamber of commerce and industry to address their socio-economic marginalization and lodge land claims, as they believe they are more likely to be successful if claims are lodged collectively rather than by individuals. Leaders from the council and other minority groups met with ruling African National Congress representatives in Johannesburg in August 2015 to discuss access to education, housing and economic opportunities for their communities, among other issues. Following their meeting, representatives also called for their status as the country’s first indigenous community to be reflected in an amended Constitution. While there has been increasing recognition in recent years of indigenous traditions and customs, the campaign to legalize Muslim marriages still continues. While their status appeared to gain recognition with the publication and circulation of the 2010 Muslim Marriages Bill and the accreditation in 2014 of 100 imams as marriage officers, the bill has yet to be formally passed as law. As a result, Muslim women’s land rights after divorce or the death of their spouses remain uncertain. Litigation is still ongoing in the Western Cape High Court to decide whether the failure of South African law to recognize Muslim marriages discriminates against women. Organizations like the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC), Lajnatun Nisaa-Il Muslimaat (the Association of Muslim Women of South Africa), and the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UCSA) are interested parties in the case. While the case was originally set to be heard in December 2015, division

96 Africa State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Africa 97 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016