Appartenances tribales et enjeux fonciers pastoraux en Mauritanie : le projet Élevage II

Abstract

In 1985, when a long drought in Mauritania forced many nomads to settle, the World Bank launched a development project, "Élevage II", on herding. To sti mulate participation in the program, associations of her ders were set up, less on the basis of "traditional" rules related to the land than as a function of new forms of territoriality based on tribal membership. However it turned out to be hard to secure the land rights related to the investments made by herdsmen in these associations. Fitting into strategies for obtaining "notability", the presumed tribal solidarity (casabiyya) was activated only during confrontations about using pastoral resources, which pitted local herdsmen against the new owners of big herds. All the strategies implemented through these associations were based on the tribes and government authorities taking advantage of each other during events as tribal solidarity took shape in a context of competition, alliance and conflict.