Let’s collaborate to stop fights and killings – Fulani chiefs tell farming communities

The President of the Council of Fulani Chiefs, Alhaji Iddrisu Mohammed Bingle, has called for collaborative efforts in handling conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and farmers.

According to him, most farmers do not take their time in knowing whose cattle it is that destroyed their farmlands; hence, they quickly pull out the gun and kill Fulani herdsmen who have nothing to do with their destroyed farmlands.

He stated that the data available to the Council suggests that over 50 Fulani herdsmen were killed by farmers and members of their communities between 2021 and 2022.

“As recently as 2021 and 2022, more than 50 of our people have been killed just like that without any provocation. It’s rather an attack on us”, he lamented.

Alhaji Bingle suggested that to prevent issues relating to farmers and Fulani herdsmen, every district should have a list of all herdsmen in its locality, such that in case of any damages, the herdsmen can be traced easily and the appropriate compensation provided to the crop farmer.

He further called on the crop farmers, who usually pull out their guns to fire on any grazing cattle, to put a stop to it because they may be firing at the wrong target.

He, however, promised to reimburse crop farmers whose farms were damaged by unidentified livestock if the committee established to investigate whether the land was grazed on discovers that the land was actually destroyed by Fulani herdsmen or their cattle.

Alhaji Bingle made this appeal on Tuesday in Accra, when the Fulanis and some residents of the Upper East Region met the press.

Speaking to The Sikaman Times after the press briefing, a security analyst, Adib Saani, said that recent violence between Fulanis and some crop breeders in the Upper East Region creates tension and marginalization.

He therefore called on the Fulani community to sit down and look into the matter well since the actions and counteractions can lead to extremism, adding that Ghana should learn from neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, where the similar incidents took place.