Fulani herdsmen invade communities in the Bole District

Bole (N/R), Jan. 20, GNA - Droves of Fulani herdsmen and their cattle have invaded several communities in the Bole District causing lawlessness and insecurity among the people in the area. The herdsmen are reported to be heavily armed with offensive weapons and have entered the country through Cote d'Ivoire due to the conflict there.

Some of them are stealing livestock and threatening to kill farmers who refuse to leave their farms for their herds to graze on while the grazing cattle destroy large tracts of farmland.

This was made known to the District Chief Executive, Alhaji Sulemana Adams Achanso at separate functions with the people during a recent familiarization tour of parts of the district to learn of the problems there with the view to addressing them.

Communities worst affected by the activities of the herdsmen and their cattle are Mankuma, Kakiasi, Doli, Gbanpe, Silmaliyiri, Sawla, Kalba and Tuna, where the people complained of increasing lawless acts by the Fulani herdsmen, such as the destruction of farm crops, stealing of livestock and the threats to kill the farmers.

The people have therefore, made an appeal to the government to help flush out the herdsmen to bring sanity to the communities to allow farmers to harvest their crops.

They said because of the threats, the farmers could no longer go to their farms to harvest their crops, while some of them had lost large quantities of foodstuffs through bush fires suspected to have been caused by the herdsmen.

A local chief at Kiyape is said to have lost tonnes of guinea corn he had harvested and heaped on the farm awaiting to be transported home. At Mankuma, the Assemblyman, Mr Iddisah Dari, told the District Chief Executive that cattle rustling had become rampant and that most livestock owners had virtually lost all their animals to the herdsmen. Mr Dari said farm crops such as maize, guinea corn, yams and cassava had been destroyed, while some farmers at Gbanpe complained that they had been driven away from their farms by the heavily armed herdsmen and their cattle.

The DCE on behalf of the government sympathized with the farmers and promised to take up the matter with the Regional Security Council for the necessary action.

At Silmalyiri, the DCE interacted with some of the herdsmen and warned them to abide by the laws of the country or be flushed out.