Dozo
Encyclopedia
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, and Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, and members of a co-fraternity containing initiated hunters and sons of Dozo, called a Donzo Ton. Not an ethnic group, the Dozo are drawn mostly from Mandé
Mande languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
-speaking groups, but are also found among Dyula
Dioula language
Jula is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. It is one of the Manding languages, and is most closely related to Bambara, being mutually intelligible with Bambara as well as Malinke. It is a trade language in West Africa and is spoken by millions of people, either as a...
-speaking communities and most other ethnic groups in Ivory Coast. Dozo societies increased in the last decades of the twentieth century, and Dozo groups came into political prominence during the Ivorian Civil War.
Donzo Ton
The Donzo Ton (Ton is a Mandé word for age-group, religious, or vocational associations) are but one of a number of hunter fraternities common in Mandé-speaking areas of West Africa. Similar, and in the case of West Africa closely related groups, exist as the Kamajor in Sierra LeoneSierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, Poro
Poro
The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a secret society of Sierra Leone and Liberia.-Structure:Only males are admitted to its ranks, but two other affiliated and secret associations exist, the Yassi and the Bundu, the first of which is nominally reserved for females, but members of the Poro are admitted...
in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, the Mayi-Mayi in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, and the Karamojong
Karamojong
The Karamojong or Karimojong, are an ethnic group of agro-pastoral herders living mainly in the north-east of Uganda. Their language is also known as Karamojong or Karimojong, and is part of the Nilo-Saharan language group.-History:...
in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. Sons of Dozos, as well as new adherents, are able to be initiated into the Ton, and undergo a series of secret rituals. There has been a long history of these hunter collectives (the Segu
Segu
*Segu may refer to**Ségou, a city in south-central Mali, and former capital of the Bamana Empire**Sergi López Segú, a Spanish footballer**Segu , a novel by Maryse Condé...
Bambara empire
Bambara Empire
The Bamana Empire was a large pre-colonial West African state based at Ségou, now in Mali. It was ruled by the Kulubali or Coulibaly dynasty established circa 1640 by Kaladian Coulibaly also known as Fa Sine or Biton-si-u...
is said to have grown from such a Ton) and hunters were often viewed by farming or pastoralist neighbours as possessing special power, wisdom and strength. Collective organisations, as with many vocations in West Africa, existed in part to train and pass on needed skills. Hunters, though, are found in every community, and are not a strictly inherited role.
It is believed that the amulet
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
s (gris-gris) worn by Dozos possess magical
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
properties protecting them from harm, and amplifying their vision
Visual perception
Visual perception is the ability to interpret information and surroundings from the effects of visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision...
and hearing
Hearing (sense)
Hearing is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations through an organ such as the ear. It is one of the traditional five senses...
. Such amulets, inherited brown hunting clothing, as well as special hats, are said to make them bulletproof
Bulletproof
Bulletproofing is the process of making something capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles e.g. shrapnel. The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protection against all types of bullets, or multiple hits in the...
. Each local Donzo Ton is led by an elder hunter, the donzokuntigi. Along with ritual and initiation, local Donzo Ton will meet to discuss their work, organise hunts, or settle internal grievances, often in the all-night tonsigi gathering. In this way, the Donzo Ton operates much like a western guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
.
Part of the cultural and ritual tradition of the Donzow surrounds sacrifice and protection of the community. In traditional belief, wild animals killed by hunters released a nyama: a destructive spirit which afflicted the community benefiting from the kill. Donzo Ton trained to perform rituals, cleansing the nyama and enabling them to both share their bounty with the community of non-hunters, and act as spiritual guardians of settled communities from malevolent forces of the forest or bush.
In Ivorian society and politics
While there are records of hunter Tons going back to the Mali EmpireMali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
, since the 1990s there has been a particular growth of local collectives of Donzo Ton in Ivory Coast. It is believed that this growth first originated along the border with Mali, and spread into forested regions of Ivory Coast. In Mali, hunter associations were organised into a national union (l`Association Nationale des Chasseurs), and one such local Malian group, the association WANDOUGOU-BENKADI, had close contacts with Donzo Ton in Ivory Coast. This is seen as the birth of the Benkadi: a network of Donzo Ton both across Ivory Coast, and into Mali and Burkina Faso. By the year 2000 there were over 22,000 official members of the Ivory Coast Benkadi network Donzo Tons.
One explanation for the huge growth in the Benkadi network in 1990s Ivory Coast is the rapid increase in deforestation (and thus more scarce hunting land) in the north, economic hardship in other vocations, along with the growing insecurity across the country fed by fears of civil war spreading from Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
and Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
-mandated structural adjustment and a currency devaluation in 1994 helped spread an unprecedented crime wave in Ivory Coast. These hunter groups, then, were simultaneously respected (even feared) for their power by neighbours while growing in numbers and organisation while the government slid into ethnic conflict and civil war. In many places the Benkadi were hired or simply stepped in to fill this vacuum.
At the beginning of the 1990s, President Houphouët-Boigny
Houphouët-Boigny
Félix Houphouët-Boigny was the first President of Côte d'Ivoire.Houphouët-Boigny may also refer to:* Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, former First Lady of Côte d'Ivoire; current philanthropist...
had called on public-minded citizens to aid the police, and as crime increased, local officials drafted in hunters in Korhogo
Korhogo
Korhogo is a town in Korhogo Department in the north-central region of Côte d'Ivoire. It has a population of 174,000 . It produces and/or processes goods such as cotton, kapok, rice, millet, peanuts, corn, yams, sheep, goats and diamonds. The town was on an important pre-colonial trade route to...
and Ferkessédougou
Ferkessédougou
Ferkessédougou is the second largest town in northern Côte d'Ivoire. Ferkessédougou is also the administrative seat of the Ferkessédougou Department, one of four Departments in the Savanes Region...
. Not only were the hunter militias successful, but their fame spread far beyond the north. Donzow became a common sight in towns and on the roads of Ivory Coast. They were hired by locals and both sides in the Ivorian Civil War as soldiers, to guard vehicles, direct traffic, or patrol religious sites. This success fed into the growth of Benkadi groups in all parts of Ivory Coast, as the civil war and fragile peace made local organisation of security much sought after. In Abidjan
Abidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
and Bouaké
Bouaké
Bouaké is the second largest city in Côte d'Ivoire, with a population of 775,300 . It is the main urban settlement of the Bouaké Department with a population exceeding 1.2 million, in the Vallée du Bandama Region...
. Donzo Ton leaders opened security offices, trading not only on their northern successes, but on a public perception of special (even magical) abilities of Donzow. Unemployed men from around the country came to Korhogo
Korhogo
Korhogo is a town in Korhogo Department in the north-central region of Côte d'Ivoire. It has a population of 174,000 . It produces and/or processes goods such as cotton, kapok, rice, millet, peanuts, corn, yams, sheep, goats and diamonds. The town was on an important pre-colonial trade route to...
and Odienné
Odienné
Odienné is the chief town of Odienné Department of Côte d'Ivoire, lying in the northwestern part of the country. West of Odienné is the Deng Kele Massif. The town of Odienné was founded by Malinké people under Vakaba Tourié . Later, Samory Touré founded a support base in the town. Features of...
, home of Benkadi leadership, to be initiated into a Donzo Ton, and thus have access to work as well-paid security guards.
Civil War
While Donzow became guards for hire in the unstable years before the 2002–2005 Ivorian Civil War, their network became associated with northern groups who led the rebel forces. The Donzo Ton, viewed as saviours by some in the south, were also seen as unsophisticated throwbacks to a pre-modern era by many in cosmopolitan AbidjanAbidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
. The transnational and northern source of the Donzo Ton were seen to conflict with the ethnic nationalism of Ivoirité
Ivoirité
The word Ivoirité was first used by Henri Konan Bédié in 1995. It initially referred to the common cultural identity of all those living in Côte d'Ivoire, especially foreigners in Ivory Coast .However, nationalist and xenophobic ideas fanned by politics and the press changed it to mean...
which feared the presence of Burkinabé
Burkinabe
Burkinabé may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Burkina Faso, a nation in West Africa* A person from Burkina Faso, or of Burkinabé descent. For information about the Burkinabé people, see:** Demographics of Burkina Faso** Culture of Burkina Faso...
labourers and immigrants from Mali as not being "true" Ivorians. Politically, it was Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR)
Rally of the Republicans
The Rally of the Republicans is a liberal party in Côte d'Ivoire. It is presently the country's governing party; the party's leader, Alassane Ouattara, is the current President of Côte d'Ivoire....
politicians from the north who first entrusted the Donzow with policing duties, and the Donzo Ton leadership became associated with the RDR. Nationalist Presidents Henri Konan Bédié
Henri Konan Bédié
Aimé Henri Konan Bédié is an Ivorian politician. He was President of Côte d'Ivoire from 1993 to 1999, and he is currently the President of the Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire - African Democratic Rally .-Biography:...
, and later Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Koudou Gbagbo served as the fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 until his arrest in April 2011. A historian by profession, he is also an amateur chemist and physicist....
, condemned these armed Benkadi groups as regressive, divisive and dangerous. It was not surprising, then, when the September 2002 coup began the civil war, northern forces included many identifiable Donzow. One rebel group, the Mouvement populaire ivoirien du Grand Ouest (MPIGO)
Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West
The Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West .One of two rebel movements in the west of Côte d'Ivoire, created to reinforce the rebel presence after the Marcoussis accords. Founded by sergent Félix Doh , MPIGO recruited mostly in the ethnicly libéro-ivoirienne Dan/Yacouba speaking region...
was thought to be one-fifth Donzow. This participation, while earning the enmity of many in the south, has made leaders of the Donzo Ton Benkadi network powerful figures whose support has been sought by Prime Minister (and former rebel leader) Guillaume Soro
Guillaume Soro
Guillaume Kigbafori Soro has served as the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire since 4 April 2007...
's Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire
Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire
The Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire was the major rebel group in the Ivorian Civil War, which since 2005, has transformed itself into a leading political party.-Background of the MPCI and the Civil War:...
. Kuruma Lansine, public head of the Benkadi has become a political leader for standing by and speaking for "the dozos".
While most studies stress the stabilising nature the Donzo Ton had on the country both before and after the civil war, human rights organisations have documented a pattern of lawlessness, intimidation, and extrajudicial killings by Donzow groups beginning from at least 1997, through the 1999 coup
1999 Ivorian coup d'état
The 1999 Ivorian coup d'état took place on December 24, 1999. It was the first coup d'état since the independence of Côte d'Ivoire.- Background :...
(in which Donzo Ton set up checkpoints on roads across the north), and the 2002–2005 war.
Music
The Dozo are also known for their praise singers (see GriotGriot
A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...
) and ritual, often accompanied by the dozo n’goni
Ngoni (instrument)
The ngoni or "n'goni" is a string instrument originating in West Africa. Its body is made of wood or calabash with dried animal skin stretched over it like a drum. In the hands of a skilled ngoni instrumentalist, the ngoni can produce fast rapid melodies...
, a variant of n'goni West African lute said to have originated among the Senufo
Senufo
The Senufo are an ethnolinguistic group composed of diverse subgroups of Gur-speaking people living in an area spanning from southern Mali and the extreme western corner of Burkina Faso to Katiola in Côte d'Ivoire. One group, the Nafana, is found in north-western Ghana...
hunters of Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
.
