Fodé Kaba Doumbia (1818 - 1901)
Son of a Diakhanké marabout, Fodé Bakary Doumbia better known as Fodé Kaba was born around 1818 in Goumbel, a village located in the southern part of Boundou. Named Ibrahima, the future Fodé took the nickname Kaba worn by the ancestors of his family. Young Fodé followed his father, who went to settle not in Gabou as some griots claim, but in its outbuildings. In fact, they crossed the Ouli, the Niani, crossed the Gambia River to settle in the small village of Kérévane in Casamance, on what is now the Gambia border. This village had been created and was ruled by a pagan Malinke king, Silati Kéléfa, who lived in Soumacounda. From 1877, Fode Kaba ravaged the Baïnounk villages of Inor, Tobor and many other villages on the eastern shore of the Soungrougrou. Provided with arms and ammunition by the traders of Sédhiou and Bathurst, it raided the Fogny.
After long negotiations, the marabout finally accepted the signing of a treaty with the governor of Senegal, Félix Henri De Lamothe. He ceded the Fogny to France in exchange for an annual annuity of 5,000 francs and the maintenance of his authority over an important domain extending over the French Kiang. In The Gambia, the British authorities found it very difficult to bear the power of Fodé Kaba. The 1888 Annual Report reveals that its existence is a curse on the neighborhood; he lives, we read, on slave hunting and theft. On January 2, 1892, an expedition was decided by the authorities of Bathurst against his auntie of Marige from where he managed to escape at night on horseback to take refuge in Casamance. British sovereignty was then imposed on the heads of the Gambian Kiang. In 1899, following a dispute between the inhabitants of the villages of Jataba and Sankandi for ownership of a rice field, the arbitration sought by the Traveling Commissioner was rejected by the loyal Sankandi people and submitted to Fode Kaba. Accompanied by an officer, Captain Silva, and a small escort, Traveling Commissioner Sitwell arrived in Sankandi on July 16, 1900 to settle the matter amicably. Convinced that he was coming to be arrested, the village chief, Dari Bani Dabo, fired on the English who were killed. He left with his principal lieutenants to take refuge in Casamance, in Medina with Fodé Kaba who received this news very badly. While granting them hospitality, he reproached the outlaws for their imprudence and above all the opportunity which was now given to Europeans to intervene against him. Members of the Doumbouya family claim that an envoy from Bathurst came to Medina to claim the fugitives. Fode Kaba refused in the name of the sacred laws of asylum. The Bathurst authorities then asked the French to kindly act with Fode Kaba. The Sédhiou circle commander visited the marabout who received him coldly. Fodé Kaba abandoned the cautious and clever reserve he had always adopted with regard to his French interlocutors by refusing to hand over his charges. The English asked Saint-Louis for permission to capture the marabout in Casamance territory, but the governor opposed it. A Franco-English expedition was then organized against the old chief in March 1901. The British placed troops on the border to prevent any flight to the North. Moussa Molo, delighted to finally be able to take revenge on his traditional enemy, arrived on the banks of the Soungrougrou ​​in the east, at the head of 400 horsemen. The French led by Colonel Rouvel presented themselves in front of Medina on March 23, 1901 at noon. The assault on the tata was ordered and the walls were shattered by fire from the three pieces of cannon brought in. After the battle - because the warriors of Fodé Kaba put up strong resistance to the attackers - Colonel Rouvel searched in vain for the body of the marabout among the rubble. When questioned, his son Ibrahim replied that his father had been the victim of the cannon balls. His death was however controversial due to the disappearance of his body which was never found. Sources even claim that Fodé Kaba Doumbouya died on March 19, a few days before the assault on his tata in Medina.