Peace between Salamat, Fellata tribes in South Darfur

The peace document signed by the negotiating Fellata and Salamat tribes in South Darfur on Tuesday obliges the Salamat to financially compensate for 130 out of the 205 people who were killed during tribal clashes.

It determined that the bloody clashes have left 205 people dead and dozens wounded in the period from February to August 2015. The Fellata will pay the Salamat tribe the compensating 'blood money' for 75 dead tribesmen, along with compensating the damages and loss of property in the war.

The amount of blood money was established at SDG10,000 ($1,630) for a man and SDG5,000 ($815) for a woman.

The Chief of the Fellata, Yousif El Samani, said that the reconciliation conference in Buram town that started on Saturday was able to identify the total losses and blood money of the two parties at SDG3,000,500 ($488,780).

He told Radio Dabanga that the conference has committed the two parties to re-open the roads in the southern localities Tullus, Buram, Gireida, El Radoom, Dimsu, and El Nadeef and facilitate the commercial traffic.

In addition, those who have been displaced by fighting from El Nadeef area must be supported by the tribes in returning to their homes. El Samani added that the monitoring of the implementation is left to the South Darfur state, the six localities, and their security committees in particular.

Omda of the Salamat tribe, Jibril Hassan Adam, valued the reconciliation of the tribal conflict as “a summer cloud that has receded without return”. Through Radio Dabanga the Omda Jibril expressed his thanks to the Habaniya tribe's adminstration for brokering the conference.

“This reconciliation conference will be the last one between Salamat and Fellata.”

The Governor of South Darfur State, Adam El Faki El Tayeb, announced the formation of a special force that will be tasked with hunting down outlaws who are accused of arousing the tribal strife and thefts following the tribal fighting.

This year has witnessed two large Fellata-Salamat clashes in South Darfur. The most recent fighting ignited in mid-August in Tullus and Buram's Asalya and Anadif areas, which intervening government forces managed to end. Military buffer forces were also sent to the battle area in Dimsu and El Ferdous localities at the end of March to prevent more bloody clashes.