Traditional Authority in the Nuba Mountain
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background
The First Conference of Traditional Leaders of the Nuba Mountains
was held in Julud, South Kordofan between 17th-20th July 2005.
Over one hundred participants attended the Conference from
all the corners of the Nuba Mountains as well as officials
of the SPLM/A and the Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation Development
Organisation-NRRDO, which organised the Conference. Commander
Cdr. Ismail Khamis of the SPLM/A officially opened the conference
and participated throughout the Conference along other SPLM/A
commanders, organisers and mobilisers.
The conference was called for by the NRRDO, which proposed
such a Conference to take place given the rising awareness
about the role of the House of Nationalities. A number of
workshops and conferences had already been held in Nairobi
as well as inside South Sudan in support of such a structure
to be included in the constitution of the New Sudan. The Swiss
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs-DFA was involved in
the facilitation of a number of these meetings and discussions.
The objectives of the conference were to give support to peaceful
co-existence in the Nuba Mountains as well as the need to
restore traditional structures of governance in the new constitutional
dispensation in the New Sudan. It was also felt that a coalition
of all the leaders in the region to promote and defend the
traditional rights of the people in the Nuba Mountains was
required. More importantly, the idea was to unify the traditional
leadership that had been disintegrated by war and manipulation
by the warring parties and to protect cultural diversity and
wealth of customs and traditions of all the communities, among
other objectives.
The original idea was to have a conference of 100 participants
from both sides of the conflict: 50 participants each from
the SPLM/A and the Government of Sudan-GoS. In the event there
were 157 participants from these areas, but it was pointed
out during the conference that a lot of hurdles were faced
by the participants from the GoS side and that some leaders
were stopped or bribed from attending. The conference was
nevertheless vibrant as different views of contention emerged
on all the key issues of discussion.
Issues discussed
Three main issues were raised and discussed at the conference.
These were: peaceful co-existence between the communities
in the Nuba Mountains; the role of traditional authorities
in the New Sudan; and the land question. The conference was
held in plenary sessions as well as group workshops to enable
the participants to go deeper into these issues and at the
same time share views on issues discussed in groups. The conference
felt that in order to create an atmosphere for the peaceful
existence of the communities after many years of conflict
and war, there was need for a system of administration that
recognised the role of traditional leaders. There was also
need for the land issue to be revisited so that conflicts
that had arisen out of the land distribution could be addressed.
Moreover, it was recognised that no real peace can prevail
unless government addresses the issue of equitable development
in the whole country. The SPLM/A assured the participants
that the SPLM/A was now part of the Government and there would
be no more support given to such illegal militia that had
terrorised the population. There would now be a shared ‘Joint
Defence Board’ and the north and south have equal responsibilities
and powers on the Board. He also said that on the South Kordofan
Security board there were equal powers between the Government
and SPLM/A and that security issues concerning the state would
be decided upon within the state.
Regarding the role of traditional leaders, the conference
agreed that their recognition was a key to the restoration
of good government in the New Sudan. It was pointed out that
traditional authorities had survived although a lot of changes
had been made whereby the GoS was able to appoint chiefs who
had little support on the communities. Group Discussions produced
a consensus on the role of these authorities. For instance,
the participants agreed that the chiefs should be elected
in their respective areas, that they should have the respect
of the people and that they should have legally defined roles
and powers. It was also felt that these leaders should be
officially recognised and paid a salary as well as being provided
with logistics to enable them to undertake their work. There
was a feeling that regular meetings were required between
communities to discuss problems between them and that a Conference
of Traditional Leaders would also be necessary every one year
to handle disputes and resolve them.
The land issues were very controversial but there was a general
agreement on how the issue should be handled by the new SPLM/A
and GoS government under the CPA. It was recognised by all
the participants that land laws and land distributions undertaken
since the 1970s, and especially in 1983, were intended to
disown and displace the people of the Nuba Mountains. It was
felt that new laws would be required to redress the injustices
of the past and that wronged parties would have to be compensated.
It was also agreed that the traditional leaders should be
involved in the new laws and that there should be both the
national and local land commissions to oversee the management
and use of the land. To avoid conflicts between the pastoralist
nomads and the agriculturalists, it was recommended that properly
demarcated corridors should be established and that the pastoralists
be regulated so they can come into agricultural areas in March
and depart in June and that committees of the in-coming pastoralists
and the local traditional authorities be set up to ensure
peace.
The issue of the environmental degradation in the Nuba Mountains
attracted a lot of debate and discussion. It was agreed that
tree cutting for any purpose be made illegal and that the
traditional leader have a role in the implementation of this
policy. It was also emphasised that in order to have a proper
use of land, the government should promote new agricultural
policies that promote new crops and animal husbandry. There
was a feeling that government should promote the cooperatives
as a way of enabling farmers and pastoralists to improve their
production and marketing of their products and this contributing
to price stabilisation.
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