Dahalos

"This photograph is part of a series titled The Zebu War. It's a documentary photography reportage that I worked on from 2013 to 2021. It deals with zebu theft, a problem that is prevalent in the south and the west of Madagascar, and which causes an enormous sense of insecurity among the rural populations who live within certain enclaves. These rural areas are referred to as “red zones” by the military authorities, because they have been taken over and are controlled by gangs of zebu rustlers, commonly known as dahalo.

In 2020, a journalist colleague and I managed to get access to these dahalo. This followed long weeks of negotiations involving a descendant of a former king of the Sakalava ethnic group in western Madagascar. People living in the bush, like the dahalo, still have great respect for those representing the spiritual or traditional Malagasy authority of the pre-colonial period (1895-1960), rather than the state authorities.

Consequently, we were able to spend a few days among the dahalo. As they are being actively pursued by the army, they are themselves always armed. They are led by a single chief, and impose their authority by force on the neighbouring villages; their power can extend over dozens of square kilometres of territory. The system can be seen as a kind of mafia. In general, the Malagasy State has no authority over these territories, and the local state representatives often turn a blind eye under the pressures of corruption.”