environmental degradation as a cause of conflict in - Steiner Graphics

abs. In the past they had been involved in raiding and counter-raiding against oneanother and against settled farmers (see Beck 1996). It took the colonial governmentconsiderable time and effort to control them and prevent them from attackingone another or attacking the settled farmers (see Beck 1996).The other ecological zone is the one extending from the White Nile in the Sudanto Lake Chad. This belt is a rich savanna, suited for raising cattle and is occupied bythe Baqqara, i.e. the cattle-owning people, who are mostly Arabs. Observers makethe point that nomads in this belt are increasingly becoming settled farmers andonly a small number of them continue to keep herding as a means of livelihood (seeBraukamper 2000). Darfur region has long strips of the two ecological zones, andhence, a sizable number of its population is still nomadic.Bashar (2003) found that out of the thirty-nine major tribal conflicts that tookplace in Darfur during the period 1923-2003, the nomadic groups were involved intwenty-nine of them, a fact which has been confirmed by Mukhtar (in Mohamed andWadi 1998) and Takana (in Mohamed and Wadi, 1998). Violent tribal conflicts in theDarfur region, therefore, cannot be adequately explained without reference beingmade to pastoral nomadism as a mode of living in the region.However, because Darfur is now a war-torn region, one should not jump to theconclusion that it has always been like that and that it had no heritage of peacefulcoexistence among its different groups. In fact, the region had enjoyed anexceptionally peaceful coexistence, for at least the period following its annexationto the rest of Sudan in 1916 and up to 1956, the end of the foreign rule. Prior tothat time and following it the region has been marred by all types of ethnic andtribal conflict. The colonial government in Darfur (1916-1956) needed to arrangefor only two conferences to resolve conflicts. The first was in 1924 between theRizayqat cattle nomads and the Dinka, their neighbours to the south. The second,in 1932, was between the camel nomads of northern Kordofan, the Kababish andthe Kawahla. and their neighbours in northern Darfur, the Zayyadiyya, Berti andMeidob. The conference was held in Umm Gozain, a border area between the twoprovinces (see Bashar 2003).By contrast, following the declaration of independence in 1956, and up to now,inter-group conflicts and subsequent reconciliation conferences to resolve themhave become the rule rather than the exception, resulting in an average of 1.5conferences per year. In fact, 6 reconciliation conferences were held in 1991 alone.No attempt will be made here, however, to explain these striking increases in thefrequency of conflicts and reconciliation conferences to resolve them. Rather Iwould refer the reader to Mohamed (2002, 2004).One main factor needs to be mentioned though: the philosophy of governancehas much to do with the phenomenon. Notwithstanding the fact that the British,who ruled the Sudan (1898-1956) were colonizers in the first place, and they were69