Dinka Ngok and Messiriya Tribes peaceful co-existence

Conference

 

Kadugli 19^th – 21^st December 2010

Abyei district status becomes the most controversial issue in Sudan now, with few days remaining for South Sudan Referendum. The current negotiations between the two CPA parties on the issue is not making any progress, serious dialogue between the local inhabitants of the region become necessary as it might produce the needed breakthrough.

Conference on dialogue between Messiriya and Dinka Ngok tribes for Peaceful Coexistence, which was organized by Justice Africa Sudan, in the city of Kadugli, the capital of the state of South Kordofan, in the period between 19^th to 21^st December 2010, represent an unprecedented breakthrough for the problem of Abyei, for the first time the two tribes come together without intermediaries, in 33 years. The last time was in the reconciliation conference which was held in the same city in 1977.

This conference came in a very crucial time in Sudan history, with few days remaining for South Sudan Self-determination Referendum, which is supposed to be held in January 2011. Also a mid-lack of trust between the two parties to the CPA and political polarization in the area, in the last six months there are many endeavors to bring the two sides together without success.
The main expected outcome of the meeting is to bring the two parties together to allow them talk to each other face to face, without any intermediary, to build confidence between the parties as the basis for any future dialogues.

The conference was organized at the request of the Messiriya and Dinka Ngok, tribes after field visits undertaken by the organization through its Special Committee for Abyei. The two consultations came out with the views of each party on what issues they think needed to be addressed. The main purpose is to bring together the parties in the conference to talk about the chances of peaceful coexistence and building social peace, regardless of the outcome of the referendum of Southern Sudan. At the time, when the negotiations between the two parties to the CPA, the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) is not making enough progress specially with regard to the status of Abyei, the inter-tribal dialogue become very important.
We were fully aware that this conference will not resolve all the problems at once but will build confidence between the parties and start the process which engages the two parties in serious dialogues to resolve the current deadlock.

Introduction:

The following steps have been taken as part of Justice Africa Sudan Abyei initiative:

1. Establishing Abyei committee from activists with links to the area and its people.
2. The committee visited Al Muglad to meet Messiriya leaders, and Abyei to meet Dinka Ngok and listened to their views separately.
3. The two parties asked Justice Africa Sudan to bring them together to discuss those issues so they can reach an agreement.
4. Each party gave Justice Africa Sudan delegation list of their delegates for the coming conference.
5. Justice Africa Sudan promised to organise the conference, to allow the parties to meet and discuss issues related to their peaceful co-existence, Justice Africa Sudan shall only provide the technical and logistical support and form a panel of Ajaweed (Mediators).
6. The initiative is based on the principles of maintaining the values of peaceful co-existence and benefit sharing between the two communities.

Expected outcome: –

• Joint statement of commitment by the two communities to live together, peacefully, and put in place steps to deal with all the issues of concern to the two parties to ensure that their livelihood is been sustained and not affected by the outcome of South Sudan Referendum.
• Confidence building and creation of communication channels, so they can restore their traditional relation which is been affected by the violence and conflicts in the last three years.
• To establish a joint mechanism to ensure all the recommendations are implemented and prevent any future conflict.
• To address issues of concern to the two communities, to ensure peaceful co-existence in the area.

Conference Delegates

The conference was attended by a hundred and ten (110) delegates from the two tribes detailed as follows:

1. Twenty eight (28) from Dinka Ngok
2. Eighty two (82) from Messiriya
3. Thirty five (35) Guests from Local and International organisations.

According to our consultation in el Muglad the Messiriya tribe supposed to be represented by sixty three (63) delegates that include Civil Society Organizations, Women, Youth groups and native administration and tribal leaders. In the last day before the conference we discovered that there was disunity with the Messiriya as two of the main tribal leaders decided not to come to the conference and asked for it to be postponed, that was the third time we receive request postponement from them. The conference supposed to be held in the 12^th of December 2010 and due to the request from some of Messiriya tribal leaders we decided to delay it to the 19^th December 2010. At the time of their second request some of the Dinka Ngok delegates including Sultan Kuol Deng Majok and some of the Ajaweed were already in Kadugli.  Fifty five (55) of the selected Messiriya delegates decided to attend and prompted for the conference to go ahead as they are representing all Messiriya clans.

Dinka Ngok representation was in a highest level as their delegation was led by Sultan Kuol Deng Majok the leaders of the 9 Dinka Ngok clans.  Sultan Kuol asked for more senior representation from the Messiriya at least Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou Nimir supposed to attend, to ensure that they honour any agreement the two parties might arrival at.

Ajaweed (Mediators) Panel from Southern Sudan

No	Name	Area/Tribe
1	Sultan. Nyal Chan Nyal	Warap
2	Sultan. Yel Agwer Geng	Aweil
3	Sultan. Cher Miror Rakan	Warrap
4	Sultan. Bio Tim Kwaj	Advisor (GoSS)

 

Seven from the north

No.	Name	Area/ tribe
1	Dr Elmuck Yusuf Hassan Adlan	Ajaweed Head Committee – Blue Nile State
2	Elmuck Salih Ali Azrag	West Nuba – Lagawa
3	Elmuck Mohammed Rahhal Mohammed	Kadugli
4	Elameer Mohammed Elzakki Elfaki Ali	Miri
5	Elameer Bagadi Mohammed Hammad	El Hammadi
6	Ustaz Yusuf Bashir Idris	Former education   minister North Kordofan state
7	Ameer/ Mahmoud Abdel Alla Murad	Shawabana tribe

 

Nazir/ Alzain Margani Zaki Eldin the leader of Badairia tribe from North Kordofan supposed to attend but he was forced to return to El Obied for family affair, but he is committed to be part of the panel in the next rounds.

Despite the absence of the influential leader of the Messiriya, Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou Nimir but, the attendance from the Messiriya tribe include very influential tribal leaders and activists, from Civil society organizations, youth and women group, all the conference delegates made  very  clear  commitment during the conference  that they are ready for dialogue, peaceful coexistence and hoping that other  leaders from  the Messiriya will join the process  in order to achieve peace and  maintain  peaceful co-existence  in the region and  all become  winners.

Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou  Nimir and others leaders gave us written commitment that they will be part of the process and according to their request we postponed the meeting from the  12^th of December  to  the 19^th of December , on the 18^th  and when most of the delegates were in Kadugli including Sultan Kuol Deng Majok they asked for another postponement. But other Messiriya delegates decided to continue the meeting as they represented all the Messiriya clans in the area.

The Initiative Methodology

We have decided to use old Sudanese tradition in conflict prevention, resolution and conflict management called Judiah by using Ajaweed (mediators), this is a Sudanese tradition that existed for hundreds of years.

Ajaweed panel normally form from communities’ elders and tribal and community leaders. We have also decided not to directly involve the political parties, to avoid the political polarization which led to the current deadlock on this issue. The initiative stayed purely non-governmental, but as soon as it reachs agreement we will put it to the two CPA partners hoping that it will help breaking the current deadlock on the issue.

The selection of the Ajaweed was based on their reputation and long standing experience in mediation. Al Mek Yosif Adlan (the senior tribal leaders in Blue Nile state), has been selected to chair the Ajaweed committee. Al Mek Adlan chaired more than Forty (40) mediation panels all over Sudan.

The Conference Bulletin

We have issued conference bulletin ( Conference Newspaper) contained  information about the relation between  Dinka Ngok and Messiriya, at the time of the two  of the tribal leaders, Nazir Mukhtar Babou Nimir and Sultan Deng Majok. And also give historical background on all the conflicts between the two tribes and the outcomes of the all previous reconciliation conferences.

We issued 10,000 copies distributed freely in all parts of Sudan.

The Conference Management and conduct

The conference was planned to take three days, the first day schedule contain introductory session, and lecture on conflict resolution presented by Dr. Gumaa Kunda.

The Second part of the first day supposed to involve formation to the working groups which will be led the Ajaweed to try and narrow the gaps and try to reach consensus. The conference was not meant to discuss the post referendum issues which are now under discussion between the two parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), but looking for ways which might promote peaceful co-existence between the parties   irrespective to the outcome of   2011 South Sudan referendum,  sustaining their livelihood and sharing benefit. Justice Africa Sudan handed the Ajaweed the two memos received from the two tribes so as to make them aware of the views of each party.

The sensitivity of the Abyei  issue  as one of the main issues  on the discussion table between the two CPA party with regional and international mediation, made it  very difficult  to address this issues with many  parties involve and also many spoilers. What make things even more complicated are south Sudan Referendum and its impact of the area. All those factors need to be taken into consideration to ensure we keep everyone on board

The second Day

Ajaweed panel meet with the two parties and negotiates statement of commitment to peace and peaceful co-existence between the two tribes and also reaffirming their commitment to continue negotiations to settle all the outstanding issues.

After Ajaweed panel discussion with two parties the two parties agreed for a communiqué to be issue by the Ajaweed, and agreed that the Ajaweed continue their effort and prepare for a second meeting within two weeks. The chairman of the Ajaweed panel will contact Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou Nimir and ask him to join the process. They also asked the Messiriya group to unite themselves and come to next meeting unified.

The declaration: –

1. As a result of an initiative from Justice Africa Sudan organisation, a dialogue conference is organized between Misseria and Dinka Ngok for peaceful coexistence under the above slogan. The conference convened in Kadugli – the State of South Kordofan during the period 19 – 21/12/2010.
2. Before the convention of the conference, initial meetings were held between the leaders of the two groups separately in El Muglad and Abyei. Each group expressed and confirmed his strong desire and readiness to attend the Dialogue conference for setting and enhancing the values and principles of peaceful coexistence.
3. The conference was led by a number of honourable leaders of the Sudanese Native Administration from Blue Nile, South Kordofan, Upper Nile, Warap and Northern Bahr El Ghazal in addition to a number of experts in Conflict Resolution and Social Peace.
4. In the opening session, each party expressed his desire for peaceful coexistence irrespective of the outcome of the current and future political decisions.
5. Despite the fact that prominent leaders from the two groups has attended, it was noted that some influential leaders from the side of Messiriya did not come. Because the matter is serious and critical, more influential leaders are needed to attend the conference to guarantee a successful implementation of any agreement that may be reached.
6. Ajaweed Committee along with Justice Africa Sudan would like to ensure to the two concerned parties (Dinka and Misseria), local and international public opinion the following: –
   1. The strong desire that was expressed by the two groups to achieve peaceful coexistence in the Area away from the political practices.
   2. Both parties confirmed the acceptance of dialogue in addressing obstacles related to peaceful coexistence.
   3. The desire of the two parties to resume dialogue in the near future whenever the necessary arrangements were made to achieve sustainable social peace.
   4. The readiness of the Ajaweed Committee to continue their unlimited efforts to realize and enhance values of peaceful coexistence. Accordingly, Ajaweed and Justice Africa will coordinate communications and discussions with the two group leaders.

Finally, the representatives of the two groups and the Ajaweed committee would like to extend their gratitude to Justice Africa Sudan Organization for their valuable efforts to realize and enhance Social Peace in the area.

Media Coverage

The conference is widely covered by different media mediums, ten journalists representing newspapers, radios and televisions have taken part in covering the conference activities. The journalists produce more than 6 reports in national newspapers and three television reports. The declaration full text is been published in three national newspapers.                                                                                 

The Next Steps

• Contacting Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou

As soon as the conference finished Mek Yousif Adlan contacted Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou and handed him the conference communiqué and encourage him to join the process. Justice Africa Sudan has written to all Messiriya leaders and send them a copy of the communiqué, numbers of them promised to take part in the next meeting.

Babanousa Meeting

Messiriya tribe activists and  community leaders from all clans held a meeting in Babanousa, 1 January 2011, the main objectives of the meeting are:

• To brief the Messiriya on the outcome of Kadugli conference.
• To agree on a joint approach to the process.
• To convince the leaders who didn’t attend the meeting to join, the process.
• A delegation for the meeting will go to ALMuglad on the 2nd January 2011 to meet with Ameer/ Mukhtar and ask him to join the process.
• The Messiriya activists will organise meeting at grass root level to rally people around their plans and to ensure they get the needed popular support for it.
• On 3^rd January Justice Africa Sudan received confirmation from Al Ameer Mukhtar Babou Nimir that he will join the process by participating in the next meeting.
• Justice Africa Sudan will held meeting for Alajaweed meeting in Khartoum on the first week of January 2011, to agree on a strategy to approach this process.  Depending on the response of the Messiriya group.
• A meeting on small group ( five from each tribe) which include around ten representative from each tribe will be to narrow the gap between the two   tribes
• Meanwhile the Ajaweed panel is studying the two papers which contain the views of the two sides, and come out with practical proposal to reconcile the gap.
• After the small group meeting date for the second conference will be determine.
• Our Ajaweed panel will draft road map addressing the main issues of concern to be present to the two parties.