Maaliya members protest for justice in Khartoum

Demonstrators from the Maaliya tribe held a protest in front of the Ministry of Justice in Khartoum on Thursday, handing the attorney-general a memorandum in which they demand the arrest of tribesmen accused of being involved in recent tribal clashes in East Darfur.

Clashes between members of the Ma'aliya and the Rizeigat erupted in Abu Karinka and Adila localities in East Darfur last April. Seven tribesmen were killed and a number sustained injuries, after theft of livestock triggered tensions west of Abu Karinka town.

The Maaliya protesters in Khartoum demanded the ministry to bring the suspects to trial in public. The memorandum also states that those sentenced for similar incidents in 2002, totalling 88 tribesmen, should be re-arrested.

After the East Darfur government deployed buffer forces in the area of El Khamsat where the fighting erupted on 8 April, an uneasy calm returned to the area, journalists reported to Radio Dabanga.

Peace agreements between the two pastoralist tribes are broken over and over again. In October, they reached a new reconciliation agreement, facilitated by the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (Unamid). In end October, the Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca visited the area of Ed Daein, the stronghold of the southern Rizeigat, and Abu Karinka, the traditional territory of the Ma’aliya, in a bid to reach definite peace between the tribes.