Nomadic Peoples: The Reziagat

Nomadism is a hot topic around these parts, so we're going to start doing little pieces on various nomad groups.


Rezeigat in the darfur conflict (Alex de Waal)

The Um Jalul are a clan of the Mahamid, who are in turn a section of the Abbala (“camel-herding”) Rizeigat tribe of Northern Darfur and Chad. Their Bedouin roots can be traced back at least five centuries, when their patrilineal ancestors crossed the Libyan desert, entering Darfur from the north-west. The Abbala Rizeigat were thus in Darfur when the Fur Sultanate emerged in the early seventeenth century and a part of its bilingual Arab-Fur identity from the outset. In the mid-eighteenth century, the Sultan granted the Baggara (“cattle-herding”) Rizeigat jurisdiction over a huge area of land south-east of the Sultanate’s heartlands. Known as hawakir, such territorial grants are the basis of Darfur’s land tenure today; who controls them is the subject of bitter political struggle. The Baggara’s Abbala cousins, more mobile and living in the more densely administered northern lands, were less fortunate. Until today, many Abbala Rizeigat ascribe their role in the current conflict to the fact that they weren’t given territory a quarter of a millennium ago. The Baggara Rizeigat by contrast are neutral.

http://hrw.org/reports/2007/sudan0907/6.htm

In January 2007 the intense inter-tribal fighting broke out between the Tarjum and Rizeigat Abbala groups in the Bulbul area of South Darfur. Both have members in Sudan’s security forces. A number of Tarjum men are enlisted in, and were armed by, the Popular Defense Force, and many Rizeigat Abbala are enlisted in, and were armed by, the Border Intelligence force.⁶⁵ By March over 100 people had been killed or injured, thousands of civilians had been displaced, their property stolen and houses burned.⁶⁶ The immediate tensions of the conflict can be traced to the Rizeigat Abbala accusing the Tarjum of murders and the Tarjum accusing the Rizeigat Abbala of abductions.⁶⁷ But political maneuvering, land competition, and government favoritism towards the Rizeigat Abbala probably lies at the root of this conflict.

In 1995 the Tarjum, a traditional farming and cattle-herding Arab group, had been granted stewardship over part of the traditional land of the non-Arab Fur tribe. The Rizeigat Abbala are pastoralists and camel herders, and Bulbul is on their traditional migratory route. Small Rizeigat Abbala settlements have proliferated on the land over the years, creating tensions with the Tarjum. The Rizeigat Abbala have no land of their own, and, according to OHCHR, this may be why they entered the Darfur conflict on the government side.⁶⁸ Indeed, some Rizeigat Abbala have even settled on land from which the Tarjum have been displaced.⁶⁹

In early 2007 the government tried to calm tensions by facilitating a reconciliation agreement between the Tarjum and Rizeigat Abbala and sending security forces to the area, but the agreement was soon broken and fighting resumed.⁷⁰ The intense fighting finally subsided in March, but started again three months later and has now spread to West Darfur, with reports of scores of casualties on both sides, including the killing of Tarjum civilians at a funeral procession on July 31, 2007.⁷¹ A Tarjum tribal leader told journalists that a temporary ceasefire agreement was signed in mid-August,⁷² but history has shown that these agreements are very fragile, and the looting of a few cattle or the murder of one person may spark a return to all-out conflict.

There are currently about 310,000 Reziagat living in northern Darfur. They have inhabited the area for a very long time, and were independent and autonomous until the Anglo-Egyptian ocupation.

Some basic things about Sudanese nomads to keep in mind (from Journal of Mathematical Anthropology)

Pastoral Nomadism And Peasant Agriculture in Darfur

Darfur is the westernmost province in Sudan, the largest country in Africa. The environment of Darfur is typically dry, and much of the region consists of flat scrub, steppe, and desert lands that typically receive 200-500 mm rain annually (Suliman 1996: Table 2). The Jebel Marra massif occupies central Darfur, and this high altitude area receives more rainfall (500-700 mm) and has better soils for farming. Two traditional economies exist in Darfur, cattle or camel pastoralism in the dry flatlands, and subsistence millet farming centered in the Jebel Marra (Suliman 1996). Generally, peasant agriculturalists take on the Fur ethnicity, and are considered the original African inhabitants of this region. Most pastoral nomad groups claim descent from Arab invaders from the 14th Century. Although, so much intermarriage has occurred in ensuing centuries, and ethnic adoption and change is so variable, that any biological differences among the region’s populations have been blurred (Haaland 1969, Suliman 1996). In general, cattle herding nomads in Darfur and Western Sudan are referred to as Baggara, and consist of ethnic groups such as the Arab Rezeigat, Irayqat, Mahamid, and Beni Hussein tribes (Suliman 1996, Teitelbaum 1984). One camel nomad group, the Zaghawa, is considered non-Arab. The relationships between pastoral nomadism and peasant agriculture in Darfur parallels the five patterns enumerated in the previous section.
1. Haaland (1969: 59) makes clear that Fur peasants provide the millet that forms the staple grain in Darfur, and Baggara supply necessary milk and livestock; making the two populations interdependent. Nonetheless, peasants often have small livestock holdings (Haaland 1969), and nomads plant seasonal fields to supplement their pastoral diets (Teitelbaum 1984:56).
2. The climate of Darfur is extremely variable, leading to wild fluctuations in livestock numbers, and widespread displacement of pastoral nomads (Suliman 1996: Table 1, Tobert 1985).
3. It is clear from descriptions of pastoral nomadism in Darfur that pastoral nomads in this region are constantly striving to increase the size of their herds (Haaland 1969, Suliman 1996, Tobert 1985). Other authors note this maximization behavior of Sudanese pastoralists in general (Ahmed 1973, Mustafa 2004, Teitelbaum 1984).
4. The history of pastoral/peasant relations in Darfur has always been tinged with tension. In times of relative peace, there can be substantial cooperation and social mobility between peasants and nomads. Haaland (1969) describes how peasants who acquire cattle make contracts with nomads for the animals’ care, and how impoverished nomads sedentarize and wealthy peasants sometimes nomadize. When this occurs, the parties not only change lifestyle, but also ethnic affiliation. Even religious affiliation can be very flexible and contingent on economic lifestyle (Teitelbaum 1984:57). At other times, extremes of violence erupt between peasant and nomad groups, leading to raiding, homicide, displacement and slavery (Suliman 1996).
5. Despite both Darfur peasants and nomads adhering to the same religion, Islam, Haaland (1969) describes a characteristic difference in bearing, attitude and religious practice between peasant and nomadic sectors. Fur peasants gain access to land through patrilineally held lands, prefer sedentary village life, drink millet beer, and generally view nomadic life as barbaric (Haaland 1969:62,65). In contrast, nomads maintain a haughty bearing, flaunt their martial tendencies, prefer the freedom their mobility affords and feel that milk is a preferred and necessary beverage (Haaland 1969:66, Suliman 1996).