SUMMARY
The Hausa people are a large ethnic community spread over a vast area of Africa. The community has been involved in non-state conflicts with other ethnic communities, primarily in Nigeria.
The Hausa are a Muslim people who speak the Hausa language, residing mainly in Nigeria and Niger but being found as far north as Sudan and Chad and as far west as the Ivory Coast. Nigeria is the epicentre of the Hausa people and the group has been a dominant player in Nigerian politics since the country reached independence. Culturally the group has become intertwined with the Fulani group, the two sometimes being referred to jointly as ‘Hausa-Fulani’ and with some members not differentiating between these two labels.
The Hausa and the Hausa-Fulani are most numerous in Nigeria’s Muslim north, the comparatively poorer region of the country. Although the group is much too large to be characterised as being wholly ‘nomadic’ the Hausa, as compared to many other ethnic groups in Nigeria, have a high proportion of cattle herders in the agricultural sector and tradesmen in the business sector.
In conflicts with other ethnic groups the Hausa appear to not deploy a formally organised militia, but instead rely on more loosely organised groupings to carry out violence against its opponents.
The Hausa people have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
The Fulani people (also referred to as Fula, Fulbe or Falata) are a large ethnic and ethno-linguistic community spread mainly across the semi-arid Sahel area, which stretches from West to East Africa. Originating from West Africa, the Fulani began migrating eastwards in the 19th century. Nowadays, the group inhabits several countries including Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast and Sudan. In Nigeria, most are found in the North, where they have become intertwined with the Hausa people, the other large Muslim group in the country, to the extent that the two groups are often jointly referred to as “Hausa-Fulani”. Together, they constitute nearly a third of Nigeria’s population. Historically, the Hausa were sedentary peasants and the Fulani were cattle herders who migrated into Hausa areas, where they became important political players.
In the 17th to 19th century, the Fulani people dominated large areas in West Africa, notably though the Fulani empire founded by Usman dan Fodio who forged an alliance between the Fulani aristocracy and sedentary Hausa farmers in what is today northern Nigeria. The British colonial system strengthened Fulani and Hausa traditional power structures through its policy of indirect rule. Since independence, the Fulani people have continued to play an important role in Nigeria, with much of the country’s political development centred on power struggles between Fulani/Hausa and other, often non-Muslim, groups. The Muslim North has mostly been in a position to dominate the country politically, creating grievances and fears among other groups, while the relative poverty of the North has spurred grievances among Northerners. Several important political players, such as presidents Umaru Yar’Adua and Shehu Shagari and military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, have come from the Fulani ethnic group. Recently, the introduction of Sharia law in Northern states has been a major source of violent confrontation along religious and ethnic lines.
In non-state conflicts with other ethnic groups the Fulani appear to not deploy a formally organised militia, but instead rely on more loosely organised groupings to carry out violence against their opponents.
The Fulani people have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
