ZEBU WAR
November 2020 - North Menabe, Madagascar - LEMANA (left), 30, and LEMENA (right), 40, are residents of the village of Marotahalaky, the village where lives MAHASAOKY, 30, a dahalo chief known in the region by military authorities as the author of several large-scale zebu theft operations. However, he is considered less powerful than NONON, also a great dahalo chief reputed to be dangerous and feared by the local population. 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.