Question

What is Bandits in West Africa

Answer 1

Answer:Bandits, rebels and criminals: African history and Western criminology. This article reviews the different themes mentioned in two recent books that deal with crime in Africa. The first, "Banditry, Rebellion and Social Protest in Africa", represents a collection of seventeen historical studies collected by Donald Crummey on crime, banditry, protest and rebellion in colonial Africa. The second, "Crime, Justice and Culture in Black Africa", constitutes a criminological study of crime and justice in contemporary African societies. The review begins with a brief summary of how crime was given political significance in the various 'news' criminalities that have developed in the West over the past twenty years. These themes appear in similar forms in African history: the question of discovering the political significance of 'ordinary' crime; the categorization of the 'social bandit' as originally suggested by Hobsbawm; the relationship between subjective motivation and genuine legitimation. All these themes are present in the collection of Crummey. Brillon's book presents an anthropological account of conventional crime in Africa. It is much less a political writing about the meaning of crime than an explanation of the socially constructed nature of official crime statistics. These themes appear in similar forms in African history: the question of discovering the political significance of 'ordinary' crime; the categorization of the 'social bandit' as originally suggested by Hobsbawm; the relationship between subjective motivation and genuine legitimation. All these themes are present in the collection of Crummey. Brillon's book presents an anthropological account of conventional crime in Africa. It is much less a political writing about the meaning of crime than an explanation of the socially constructed nature of official crime statistics. These themes appear in similar forms in African history: the question of discovering the political significance of 'ordinary' crime; the categorization of the 'social bandit' as originally suggested by Hobsbawm; the relationship between subjective motivation and genuine legitimation. All these themes are present in the collection of Crummey. Brillon's book presents an anthropological account of conventional crime in Africa. It is much less a political writing about the meaning of crime than an explanation of the socially constructed nature of official crime statistics. as originally suggested by Hobsbawm; the relationship between subjective motivation and genuine legitimation. All these themes are present in the collection of Crummey.  

Explanation:

Answer 2

They said these “bandits” are mostly ethnic Fulanis like they are, traditionally nomadic herders who have seen public grazing lands shrink and their cattle and sheep stolen by soldiers and rustlers. They said various governments have neglected and even harassed them – and failed to protect their way of life.

“Everyone knows we are herders. This country is blessed with oil and other natural resources,” but that bounty doesn’t filter down, Shehu Rekep, the group’s deputy, said in justifying its crimes. “We have not been educated, we don’t have security, and the government is not doing anything for us. We are being killed, but we are always reported as the killers.”

The bandits’ camp

Armed men on motorcycles fetched the journalists from an appointed meeting place to visit the gang’s forest hideout in the far northern part of Zamfara state for an interview last Monday. Someone fired a gun skyward, announcing their arrival. Roughly 30 men milled about the clearing, soon joined by at least 20 others, including several women. Most wore scarves that covered their faces, and they carried assault rifles. Some had rifles equipped with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.