beyond face similar difficulties.245 Of the approximately 70,000 people expelled by the Mauritanian government in 1989/1990, the majority were cattle herders of Fulani ethnicity from the Senegal River Valley (site of the most fertile land in Mauritania); though civil servants, military officers and activists from other black African ethnic groups were included (see also section 4.4.1). Outside the context of such crisis moments, those who are victims of discrimination on the grounds they have a Fulani last name may eventually be able to establish documentation through payment of bribes, or with the assistance of intermediaries who will vouch for them; others may be able to establish documentation of a country “of origin” different from that where they currently live.246 But the poorest and most marginalised members of such communities are certainly at a consistent risk of statelessness. Others of traditionally nomadic lifestyle face similar problems. In October 2006, the Nigerien iinister of the Interior threatened to expel Mahamid Arabs understood to be of Chadian origin, though settled in Niger in the Diffa region bordering Chad since at least the 1970s. The Mahamids are nomadic camel keepers, and the expulsion was provoked by conflicts over access to water points; conflicts that dated back to the 1990s and included the use of firearms. Numbers cited in the media of up to 150,000 Mahamids settled in Niger and a similar number of camels were clearly fanciful, but many thousands of people were potentially affected by the threats. Among the Mahamids many were in possession of Nigerien national identity cards or birth certificates, though there were frequent allegations by neighbouring communities that these documents had been fraudulently obtained. With the intervention of the UN and other agencies, as well as protests from nine Arab members of the Nigerien National Assembly, the threat of expulsion was eventually withdrawn. A group of national human rights organisations called for the nationality status of the Mahamid Arabs to be clarified through a commission of inquiry.247 In 2009, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child stressed the particular need for registration of the births of Mahamid Arab children, since absence of birth registration left them at risk of statelessness.248 Nationality law in most countries of the world is also poorly adapted for the situation of those who have no fixed home. For example, in Niger, the core principle is that of double jus soli – birth in the country of one parent also born there. Tuaregs interviewed for this study said that many who were The expulsion of Fulbe pastoralists from Ghana in 1999/2000”, Working Paper No. 44, Max Planck Institute, 2002. 245 Michaela Pelican, “Mbororo Claims to Regional Citizenship and Minority Status in North-West Cameroon” Africa, Vol.78 No.4, 2008. pp 540-560; Sam Hickey, “Caught at the crossroads: citizenship, marginality and the Mbororo Fulani in northwest Cameroon”, in Dorman et al Making Nations, Creating Strangers; Nicodemus Fru Awasom, “From Migrants to Nationals and from Nationals to ‘Undesirable Elements’: The case of the Fulani (Mbororo) in the North West Province of Cameroon”, in Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch et al, Etre Etranger et Migrant en Afrique, Vol.1, pp.403-414. Even during the period of British rule in Cameroon there was discussion over whether the Fulani-Mbororo were “natives” (“a person originating from the area where he is living”) for the purpose of 1927 Land and Native Rights Ordinance. 246 For example, Fulani in Ghana interviewed in a focus group by UNHCR and IOM in August 2013 (transcript shared with author). 247 Rapport mission HCR au Niger : La situation des mahamides, 27 octobre au 02 novembre 2006 ; « Niger says it will expel nomadic Arabs to Chad », AFP, 26 October 2006 ; “NIGER: Govt expulsion order will fuel instability, Arabs warn”, IRIN, 26 October 2006; « Le statut civil des Arabes mohamids du Niger, encore mal défini, selon la société civile », APA 12 December 2006. 248 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Observations finales: Niger, CRC/C/NER/CO/2, 18 June 2009. 73