New vehicles ‘to empower and strengthen’ North Darfur native leaders

Last week, 22 North Darfur Native Administration leaders each received a 2016 model double-cab Toyota Hilux pickup from the authorities.

The Governor of North Darfur, Abdelwahid Yousef, told reporters in the capital El Fasher on Thursday that “This package of vehicles will empower and strengthen the role of the native administration in Darfur”.

The state government is discussing the provision of salaries for the native administration leaders with the federal government in Khartoum, he added.

The governor called on the native administration leaders to exert their efforts to restore stability in the region. He urged them “not to harbour criminals”, but “to pursue reconciliation and repair the social fabric” instead.

The field commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemeti), said he will continue to give each native administration leader his own means of transport “until all the five states of Darfur are covered”.

Tensions

The purpose of the Native Administration in Darfur, installed by the British hundred years ago, was to manage the lands (the most precious commodity), to render justice, and to represent both the state and the interests of those constituencies to the authorities.

However, the successive governments in Khartoum relentlessly manipulated and undermined this traditional system, the US Peace Institute says in a 2012 report on the peace-making role of Darfur native leaders.

In particular after the Islamists’ coup led by Omar Al Bashir in 1989, the Darfur traditional leaders are caught between the needs of their people and the requirements of the central government. Political tensions are aggravated by local rivalries over shrinking resources, primarily land, water, and grazing. Social and intergenerational tensions are also acute.

According to the US report, the Sudanese government plays on all of these conflicts to undermine local leaders, and assert its power, forcing people to focus more on local rivalries than on national politics, or on the struggle for their collective rights.

During consultations of the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC) in Zalingei in early 2009, it was suggested that the native administration leaders could play an important role in restoring stability in the region. “It is critical that the authority of Native Administration is supported so that it can effectively impose its powers to help control illegal weapons, deal firmly with outlaws, etc., until peace prevails and peaceful coexistence is reached between concerned parties.”