A Revival of Tribal Tradition to Help Repair Darfur

Tag : Repair Compound

A dutiful attendant fanned one of the gurus.
But the gathering -- a revival of a traditional festival thatbrought such leaders together to solve problems -- was hardly asgrand as it used to be, back when tribal authorities governedDarfur. Instead of high-profile guests such as King Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, the modern-day versionscored only a second-tier U.N. official. Instead of 40 days of revelry, there were three.
"When my father was nazir, they used to have it everyyear," lamented festival host Said Mahmoud Musa Madibbo, thecurrent nazir, or supreme leader, of the Arab Rizeigat tribe."Now, security matters and the financial situation make itquite difficult."
The glory days of Darfur's traditional leaders have been in declinefor decades, with government institutions usurping tribalauthorities and five years of conflict further undermining thisregion's old social order, leaving a vacuum for other forces tofill.
Darfur has been rearranged by the Arab-led government's campaignagainst ethnic African villagers and rebels, and by the more recentfragmentation of society into dozens of rebel and militia factions.Experts estimate that 450,000 people have died and more than 2.5million have been displaced.
On the Arab side, the Arab-dominated government has doled out cashto minor sheiks who became unduly powerful by recruiting thenotorious Janjaweed militias to wage its war. On the African side, traditionalleadership is being replaced by a host of rebel commanders.
Across the region, a culture of banditry is taking hold, withyoung, jobless men following the counsel of the AK-47 .
As foreign diplomacy fails to resolve the Darfur conflict, someSudanese academics and activists are advocating a return to thecast-off tribal potentates to help repair this riven society. Thusthe three-day festival was revived -- a kind of soul-searching peprally aimed, organizers said, at reawakening a sense of purposeamong the beleaguered leaders.
"Everyone has tried to suppress them, and now they've almostbecome incompetent," said the nazir's nephew, Walid Madibbo,the main organizer of the festival. "But these are people whocould win the trust of their community. If they connect with themasses, I think they could easily connect with their hearts."
The leaders who gathered, for only the second time in 40 years,wore their whitest white robes in this sleepy market town insouthern Darfur -- the capital of the Rizeigat, Sudan's largestArab tribe -- where donkey carts are still the most effective meansof transport and cellphones with Mariah Carey ring tones are nearly as common.
They attended lectures on conflict resolution and the importance ofculture in binding society together. They spent long afternoonstalking easily over glasses of tea in the nazir's sandy compound.They prayed together at sunset. And later, they danced under thestars and shared shots of date liquor.