L’homme et l’animal en Afrique

les cas de l’ancienne Égypte et des peuples des deux rives du Mbam au Cameroun

Abstract

Africa has a long tradition in the use of animals for the war and the peace. They are often sources and involuntary actors of the conflicts in the old, but also in current Africa where they are used as sources of the power, fighters, strategists, shields and even judges parking of the peace. After the war, it is necessary to negotiate the peace. Even there, animals play an essential role. They are used as witnesses, guarantors and upholders of the law of the peace. In this connection, the examples of peace agreements sign in the presence of the turtle in all Mbam in Cameroon are rather illustrative. From the written, oral, ritual, iconographic sources going back up in pharaonic Egypt, we want to show the historicity of the use of the animal for the war and the construction of the peace. However, also and especially its role in the conclusion of the sacrificial alliances as well as their effects more than millenniums. on the peoples whom we find at present in Africa.