environmental degradation as a cause of conflict in - Steiner Graphics

Rizayqat homeland is at the extreme southeastern part of the region. In generaltribal leaders would normally take more than one wife, some of whom would normallybe from outside their kin groups.Rarely were there tribal leaders who had no friendships with other tribal leaders,with whom they exchanged valuable gifts or for who they named their children.Nazir Ibrahim Musa Madibbu of the Rizayqat tribe was particularly famous for beingharsh on his tribesmen who talked contemptuously of the tribal origins of individualsand ethnic groups (Assammani, 2003). As a result, symbiotic relationships flourishedamong leaders and also among followers. It made it easy, for instance, forgroups affected by climatic hardships to move to and live peacefully among otherethnic groups, because the leaders of the two groups would contact one anotherand arrange for this. Inter-group conflicts were therefore very rare.Symbiotic and friendly relationships among individuals and identity groups werenot without their advantages. Three examples will illustrate how such institutionsand practices are related to conflict reduction. Two of them related to friendship.The third is the result of intermarriage. The first two examples were told by Al HurDaood Khairallah (a retired educationist) and the third was by Huda Abdalla Mastur(a leading figure in women associations).According to Khairallah, following the crushing of the Abd Allah al-Suhaini uprisingin Nyala in 1922, which led eventually to his defeat and death, the governmentauthorities decided to impoverish his tribe, the Qimr, by taking away theiranimal wealth. The Bani Halba were neighbours and friends of the Qimr. Havingheard of the impending plan to plunder the Qimr, they decided to take away theQimr livestock and keep them for them until the crisis was over. When the governmentauthorities invaded the Qimr homeland, they found only some small animals.When the crisis was over, the Bani Halba restored the Qimr’s livestock to them.Khairallah related another episode which also illustrates the result of friendshipties between the two tribes. It was rumoured that the Qimr were preparing for anassault on the Bani Halba because of an unfounded allegation that the Bani Halbawere planning to raid the Qimr. The Bani Halba nazir summoned all his tribesmen,who had friendships with the Qimr tribesmen, and asked them to visit their friendsand find out about the matter. They came back to tell him that the allegation wasunfounded, and that there was no such preparation on the part of the Qimr to attackthe Bani Halba.The third episode was told by Huda Abdalla Mastur. Mrs. Mastur’s mother is anArab lady, who was married to a non-Arab tribesman in western Darfur. Some Arabscame to the village where the mother was living with her husband, and rustledsome livestock. The village tribesmen were out chasing the robbers. Mrs. Mastur’smother insisted that she would accompany the men. When the perpetrators werereached and were ready to attack the cattle owners, she advanced to them and told75