In May 2024, local media in the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that Mbororo herders had moved from the northern province of Bas-Uélé to neighboring Nord-Ubangi, signaling that ongoing tensions between the pastoralists and farming communities in this region continue to simmer. Throughout 2023, civil society groups in another northern province, Haut-Uélé, told media about clashes with Mbororo herders, culminating in the reported abandonment of three villages in the territory of Dungu by their 2,000 residents in September, after two villagers were shot and killed, allegedly by the Mbororo. Dungu territory administrator Marcel Abule Kpineliede told news outlet Actualite.cd that he had earlier asked the pastoralists to leave a hunting reserve that forms part of the Garamba National Park complex; he said they had agreed, moving into South Sudan in search of pasture, but then returned to the territory after the South Sudanese army pushed them back. Léonard Adrupiako, coordinator of Forces-Vives, a civil society group in the Faradje territory, also in Haut-Uélé, said that as the pastoralists and their cattle migrate here, they’ve caused devastating losses to farmers’ fields, sparking conflict that sometimes leads to fatalities. “Cohabitation is really difficult,” he told Mongabay by phone, saying the Mbororo don’t respect the needs or way of life of the farming communities that they move their herds of livestock through. While the perspectives of Mbororo herders are notably missing from these local media reports, Adrupiako’s sentiments are shared by others in area. In WhatsApp message groups, users exchange stories of conflict…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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