Unrest in Senegal is having a ricochet effect on the country’s sheep herders ahead of the Muslim holiday, Aid-al-adha, one of two times of the year herders make the most profit.
For months, they have been gearing up for the holiday also known as Tabaski, when Muslims traditionally sacrifice a sheep for a family feast.
Cheick Ba is among many herders who have stayed back, too afraid of entering the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
“We left Mauritania with hundreds of sheep to come and sell them in Senegal, but when we arrived, we lost more than a hundred. We transported them in a lorry. They died of hunger and thirst because the distance was long, the roads weren’t good and, above all, we didn’t want to make a stopover to feed the cattle because we’d heard that there were violent demonstrations in Senegal. We were afraid of stopping and running into demonstrators who might seize the cattle, which is why the sheep couldn’t rest or feed,” deplores Mr. Cheikh Ba. READ MORE
