Nomadic conflict, also called farmer–herder conflict, is found in rural areas where farming and herding communities overlap and has been used to refer to fighting among herding communities or fighting between herding and farming communities. This is sometimes referred to as conflict involving “pastoralists” or “nomadic” people and “agriculturalists” or “settled” people. The conflicts usually arise from destruction of crops by livestock and is exacerbated during times when water and lands to graze are scarce.

Background

There are several hundred million pastoralists worldwide and Africa contains about 268 million pastoralists, over a quarter of its population, who live on about 43 percent of the continent’s land mass.

Commercial displacement

Displacement of local communities to make way for commercial farms or mining activities has put pressure on grazing areas, exacerbating conflict.

Climate change and land degradation

Desertification Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused ...

means the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid cli ...

, where much of the conflict between herders and farmers take place, is expanding southward by about 1400 square miles a year.

Climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

has been attributed to exacerbate

land degradation Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious o ...

, which leads to more competition over grazing areas.

Examples

Cameroon

More than 30,000 people in northern Cameroon fled to Chad after ethnic clashes over access to water between Musgum fishermen and ethnic Arab Choa herders in December 2021.

Central African Republic

In the Central African Republic Civil War, a large portion of the fighting was between rebel groups known as ex-

Séléka Séléka CPSK-CPJP-UFDR was an alliance of rebel militia groups that subjugated the Central African Republic (CAR) on 24 March 2013. After its official dissolution in September 2013, the remaining rebel groups became known as Ex-Séléka. Sél ...

and rebel groups known as

anti-balaka The Anti-balaka is an alliance of militia groups based in the Central African Republic in the early 21st century said to be composed primarily of Christians. However, some church leaders have contested the claimed exclusively Christian character ...

. While the ex-Séléka consisted of those who were largely Muslim and the anti-balaka consisted of those who were largely Christian and animist, an added dimension of the conflict was that ex-Séléka consisted of those from nomadic groups, such as the

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

, Gula and

Runga ''Runga'' is a genus of Polynesian araneomorph spiders in the family Physoglenidae that was first described by Raymond Robert Forster in 1990. Species it contains five species, found on the Polynesian Islands: *'' Runga akaroa'' Forster, 1990 � ...

, and the anti-balaka consisted of those from agriculturalist groups.

Congo, Democratic Republic of

Ethnic conflict in Kivu has often involved the Congolese Tutsis known as

Banyamulenge Banyamulenge, also referred to as nyamurenge and banyamurenge (literally 'those who live in Mulenge') is the name that they adopted in the 80’s describes a Tutsi community in the southern part of Kivu who migrated from Rwanda and seek refuge in ...

, a cattle herding group that largely migrated from Rwanda in the 19th century and are often derided as outsiders. They are pitted against other ethnic groups who consider themselves indigenous. Militias drawn from the Bembe,

Bafuliru The Bafuliiru people (also known as the Fuliiru, Bafuliru, Kifuliru, Kifuliiru, Bafuliru, Bafuliiru and Bafuliru) are a Bantu ethnic group, a sub-group of the Kivu."Fuliiru." ''Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Volume 1'' (J ...

and Banyindu have attacked and stolen cattle from the Banyamulenge.

Kenya

Nigeria

Conflict in the

Middle Belt The Middle Belt (also spelt Middle-Belt or Central Nigeria) is a term used in human geography to designate a belt region stretching across central Nigeria longitudinally and forming a transition zone between Northern and Southern Nigeria. It is ...

in Nigeria between largely

pastoralists and farming communities has arguably killed more people than the more publicized

Boko Haram insurgency The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict is taking place within the context of long-standing is ...

Sudan and South Sudan

Nomadic conflict in Sudan has been a part of the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated ...

, the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, is a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups beg ...

and the

Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile is an armed conflict in the Sudanese southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), a northern affilia ...

and has been a feature in

ethnic violence in South Sudan Ethnic violence in South Sudan has a long history among South Sudan's varied ethnic groups. South Sudan has 64 tribes with the largest being the Dinkas, who constitute about 35% of the populationNomads Social conflict