West Africa: How Stolen Cattle Links Ghana to the Jihadist Conflict in the Sahel

Accra — “If we had peace tomorrow, it would still take five to 10 years just to stabilise the country’s livestock population.”

In late October 2023, eight armed men pulled up on motorcycles to the pasture outside the town of Biyanga in central Burkina Faso. Shifting their weapons into view, the militants demanded that the half-dozen assembled herders hand over their livestock.

“They told us we had been paying zakat (Islamic taxes) to the wrong authorities, and demanded 30 years’ worth of zakat…