Primarily nomadic herders, the Fulani people are often stigmatised across the wider Sahel region, accused of collaborating with the violent Islamist groups who stalk the region and of providing the bulk of their recruits.
Boubou Cisse had already been abducted and held for several days last October during a strike against the closure of livestock markets, which Malian authorities suspected of being infiltrated by jihadists.
On Tuesday Cisse, who was in his 70s, had his car intercepted by two unidentified gunmen while he was just outside his home in the Malian capital, one of his sons told AFP.
"They blocked the road and asked his driver to stop. At that moment they shot three bullets into his head and neck," the son added.
In an interview with Malian media, Cisse's chauffeur said that one of the attackers "was holding a camera to capture the scene after shooting the old man, then they ran off, leaving him lying in blood".
Sekou Mamadou Barry, president of the Sahel country's largest Fulani association Tabital Pulaaku Mali, urged the Malian authorities to open an investigation into the "point-blank" shooting.
Cisse "was an esteemed person of the Fulani community, known for his engagement towards peace and reconciliation", Barry said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Mali's military ordered the closure of seven livestock markets in the wake of a jihadist attack in Bamako in September 2024 which killed more than 70 people, the capital's worst in nearly a decade.
Authorities suspected that jihadists were hiding out in one of the markets, on which many livelihoods depend.
Mali, ruled by a junta after coups in 2020 and 2021, has been grappling since 2012 with widespread unrest, largely fuelled by Islamist fighters linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
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