ZEBU WAR
November 2020 - VILLAGE DE MATAVIAKOHO, Nord Menabe, Madagascar - Men smoke local tobacco in the village of Mataviakoho, home to the community of chief "dahalo" (zebu thief) NONON, a dahalo reputed to be dangerous and feared by local populations In the region..The dahalo operate like a mafia. Heavily armed with two or five shot guns, sometimes even Kalashnikovs, they live in communities in villages cut off from the rest of the world in complete autarky and regularly extort and rob neighboring villages to impose a form of allegiance on them. This loyalty acquired under threat allows them to buy the silence of the local population in the event that "anti-dahalo" military operations are carried out. It is commonly accepted that this practice of zebu theft comes from a tradition coming from the ethnic groups of southern Madagascar (Antesaka, Antandroy, Sara, etc.) who migrated little by little to the North in the 90s/2000s.