Drought Sharpens Morocco Nomads-Farmers Dispute

A Nomadic herder rides his motorcycle near tents in the southern Moroccan Tiznit province in the region of Souss-MassaDrought has turned parts of the plateaus of Tiznit arid, and when water becomes scarce, tensions rise (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)
A Nomadic herder rides his motorcycle near tents in the southern Moroccan Tiznit province in the region of Souss-MassaDrought has turned parts of the plateaus of Tiznit arid, and when water becomes scarce, tensions rise (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)
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Drought Sharpens Morocco Nomads-Farmers Dispute

A Nomadic herder rides his motorcycle near tents in the southern Moroccan Tiznit province in the region of Souss-MassaDrought has turned parts of the plateaus of Tiznit arid, and when water becomes scarce, tensions rise (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)
A Nomadic herder rides his motorcycle near tents in the southern Moroccan Tiznit province in the region of Souss-MassaDrought has turned parts of the plateaus of Tiznit arid, and when water becomes scarce, tensions rise (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

"We refuse to be confined to a cage," declares nomadic herder Mouloud, asserting the rights and customs of his kin as they graze livestock in Morocco's southern expanses.

But the herders' determination to roam freely has brought them into dispute with crop farmers in the region of Souss.

In the village of Arbaa Sahel, arable farmer Hmad and many of his peers are enraged by herds stomping through wheat and corn fields.

Drought has turned parts of these plateaus arid, and when water becomes scarce, tensions rise -- several clashes have been reported by local media in recent months, as the herders seek pasture.

The battle is also playing out on social networks.

Videos show hooded men presented as nomadic herders, equipped with sticks and swords, attacking villagers.

Some villagers have even uploaded images of what are purported to be camel-mounted attacks on their almond groves.

A few residents have fought back by poisoning water supplies and pastures used by nomads, according to testimony on the ground.

"All these lands that belong to locals, (to) fathers and sons -- they're not grazing areas," said 35-year-old Hmad, clad in leather jacket and trainers.

Exasperated, he points to wheat fields "trampled by sheep" around Arbaa Sahel, near the city of Tiznit.

The region has drawn in nomadic herders for decades -- the verdant landscape a major attraction, compared to arid lands to the east.

There has been a "significant rise in the arrival of flocks, due to drought" over the last couple of years, said nomad Mouloud, sporting sunglasses and a blue turban.

This has stoked tensions.

A local land organization has recorded 18 cases of aggression by nomadic herders against farmers in Arbaa Sahel alone since December, according to Hassan, who sits on this committee.

But Moroccan authorities say only 15 cases have been recorded in the entire Souss region.

The tensions are not limited to farmland -- there has been a spike in incidents in the region's forests, which cover 1.2 million hectares.

Villagers consider these forests to be their property, in line with ancestral customs.

But the nomadic culture, and the right to roam freely, form "part of the Moroccan identity", contends Mouloud.

Clutching his smartphone, he drinks tea and discusses the recent tensions with his nomadic friends, who erect large tents when they set up camp during their search for pasture.

In one such tent, women prepare food for the group -- a metal tray full of grilled livers and other meat.

Abu Bakr, crouching next to Mouloud and sipping a glass of goat's milk, has dropped his studies in favor of the nomadic lifestyle.

His parents come from a desert zone around 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.

Some herders have this year covered distances of almost 1,000 kilometers, traversing immense swathes of desert, Abu Bakr said.

They move in all-terrain cars to escape the drought -- their tents and herds packed into lorries.

When rains are rare, the nomads are constantly on the move, but their movement is more limited when rain is abundant.

"Schooling of children has pushed nomads to opt for stability," said Abu Bakr.

For Mustapha Naimi, professor of Sahara studies at the University of Mohamed V in Rabat, "nomadism is very old in Morocco, but it has been reduced in recent decades by urbanization".

Nomadic roaming by entire families has gradually given way to smaller scale pastoralism by shepherds, Naimi explained.

There are currently some 40,000 nomadic shepherds in the country, according to official statistics.

At the same time, "an increase in the number of herds, with 3.15 million heads of livestock... has contributed to conflict", according to the agriculture ministry.

Land committee member Hassan recalls when shepherds would request "permission from residents" ahead of arriving with flocks.

A law has been adopted by the central government that seeks to regulate nomadic herding and allow "rational exploitation of vegetation".

The legislation only allows grazing of flocks in certain zones and along pre-defined routes. And nomads have to obtain a permit, or face penalties.

But this law has been rejected by both camps.

"We hold to our freedom to roam," said herder Mouloud.

On the other side of the fence, the farmers' land committee firmly opposes government-designated grazing on land that belongs to local residents.



Russia Skirts Western Sanctions to Ramp up Its Military Footprint in Africa 

This satellite image provided by Planet Labs PBC shows trucks lined up on a dock as the Russian-flagged cargo ship, Siyanie Severa, unloads its cargo, May 29, 2025, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image provided by Planet Labs PBC shows trucks lined up on a dock as the Russian-flagged cargo ship, Siyanie Severa, unloads its cargo, May 29, 2025, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Russia Skirts Western Sanctions to Ramp up Its Military Footprint in Africa 

This satellite image provided by Planet Labs PBC shows trucks lined up on a dock as the Russian-flagged cargo ship, Siyanie Severa, unloads its cargo, May 29, 2025, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite image provided by Planet Labs PBC shows trucks lined up on a dock as the Russian-flagged cargo ship, Siyanie Severa, unloads its cargo, May 29, 2025, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Even as it pounds Ukraine, Russia is expanding its military footprint in Africa, delivering sophisticated weaponry to sub-Saharan conflict zones where a Kremlin-controlled armed force is on the rise. Skirting sanctions imposed by Western nations, Moscow is using cargo ships to send tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and other high-value equipment to West Africa, The Associated Press has found.

Relying on satellite imagery and radio signals, AP tracked a convoy of Russian-flagged cargo ships as they made a nearly one-month journey from the Baltic Sea. The ships carried howitzers, radio jamming equipment and other military hardware, according to military officials in Europe who closely monitored them. The deliveries could strengthen Russia’s fledgling Africa Corps as Moscow competes with the United States, Europe and China for greater influence across the continent.

The two-year-old Africa Corps, which has links to a covert branch of Russia’s army, is ascendant at a time when US and European troops have been withdrawing from the region, forced out by sub-Saharan nations turning to Russia for security.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been battling fighters linked with al-Qaeda and the ISIS group for more than a decade.

At first, mercenary groups with an arms-length relationship to the Kremlin entered the fray in Africa. But increasingly, Russia is deploying its military might, and intelligence services, more directly.

"We intend to expand our cooperation with African countries in all spheres, with an emphasis on economic cooperation and investments," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "This cooperation includes sensitive areas linked to defense and security."

From the ports, Russian weapons are trucked to Mali Russia's 8,800-ton Baltic Leader and 5,800-ton Patria are among hundreds of ships that Western nations have sanctioned to choke off resources for Russia's war in Ukraine. The ships docked and unloaded in Conakry, Guinea, in late May, AP satellite images showed.

Other ships made deliveries to the same port in January. They delivered tanks, armored vehicles and other hardware that was then trucked overland to neighboring Mali, according to European military officials and a Malian blogger's video of the long convoy.

The military officials spoke to AP about Russian operations on condition of anonymity. The AP verified the blogger's video, geolocating it to the RN5 highway leading into Bamako, the Malian capital.

After the latest delivery in Conakry, trucks carrying Russian-made armored vehicles, howitzers and other equipment were again spotted on the overland route to Mali.

Malian broadcaster ORTM confirmed that the West African nation's army took delivery of new military equipment. AP analysis of its video and images filmed by the Malian blogger in the same spot as the January delivery identified a broad array of Russian-made hardware, including 152 mm artillery guns and other smaller canons.

AP also identified a wheeled, BTR-80 armored troop carrier with radio-jamming equipment, as well as Spartak armored vehicles and other armored carriers, some mounted with guns. The shipment also included at least two semi-inflatable small boats, one with a Russian flag painted on its hull, as well as tanker trucks, some marked "inflammable" in Russian on their sides.

The military officials who spoke to AP said they believe Russia has earmarked the most potent equipment — notably the artillery and jamming equipment — for its Africa Corps, not Malian armed forces. Africa Corps appears to have been given air power, too, with satellites spotting at least one Su-24 fighter-bomber at a Bamako air base in recent months.

Moscow's notorious secret unit

For years, French forces supported counterinsurgency operations in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. But France pulled out its troops after coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023. Russian mercenaries stepped into the vacuum.

Wagner Group, the most notable, deployed to Sudan in 2017 and expanded to other African countries, often in exchange for mining concessions.

It earned a reputation for brutality, accused by Western countries and UN experts of human rights abuses, including in Central African Republic, Libya and Mali.

Of 33 African countries in which Russian military contractors were active, the majority were Wagner-controlled, according to US government-sponsored research by RAND.

But after Wagner forces mutinied in Russia in 2023 and their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed two months later in a suspicious plane crash, Moscow tightened its grip. Russian military operations in Africa were restructured, with the Kremlin taking greater control through Africa Corps.

It is overseen by the commander of Unit 29155, one of the most notorious branches of Russia’s shadowy GRU military intelligence service, according to the European Union. Unit 29155 has been accused of covertly attacking Western interests for years, including through sabotage and assassination attempts.

The EU in December targeted Unit 29155 Maj. Gen. Andrey Averyanov with sanctions, alleging that he is in charge of Africa Corps operations.

"In many African countries, Russian forces provide security to military juntas that have overthrown legitimate democratic governments, gravely worsening the stability, security and democracy of the countries," the EU sanctions ruling said. These operations are financed by exploiting the continent's natural resources, the ruling added.

The Russian Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately respond to questions about Averyanov’s role in Africa Corps.

Africa Corps recruitment

Researchers and military officials say the flow of weapons from Russia appears to be speeding Africa Corps’ ascendancy over Wagner, helping it win over mercenaries that have remained loyal to the group. Africa Corps is also recruiting in Russia, offering payments of up to 2.1 million rubles ($26,500), and even plots of land, for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense, plus more on deployment.

Within days of the latest equipment delivery, Wagner announced its withdrawal from Mali, declaring "mission accomplished" in a Telegram post.

Africa Corps said in a separate post that it would remain.

The changeover from Wagner to Africa Corps in Mali could be a forerunner for other similar transitions elsewhere on the continent, said Julia Stanyard, a researcher of Russian mercenary activity in Africa.

"Bringing in this sort of brand-new sophisticated weaponry, and new armored vehicles and that sort of thing, is quite a bit of a shift," said Stanyard, of the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Armed groups in Mali have inflicted heavy losses on Malian troops and Russian mercenaries. The al-Qaeda linked group JNIM killed dozens of soldiers in an attack this month on a military base. Insurgents also killed dozens of Wagner mercenaries in northern Mali last July.