Salamat, Taisha reconciliation to start in South Darfur on Saturday

The Sudanese Minister of Industry, El Samih El Siddig, announced on Wednesday that a reconciliation conference between the warring Salamat and Taisha tribes will commence in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, coming Saturday. Salamat Omda Jibril Adam Hussein welcomed the conference, and expressed its tribe’s readiness to reconcile with the Taisha. He told Radio Dabanga, however, that their participation depends on two conditions. “All those who killed, assaulted, and robbed Salamat are to be put to trial immediately. Our second condition is the presence of First Deputy President Lt. Col. Bakri Hassan Saleh, to oversee the proceedings of the conference. In addition, the mediators are to come from outside South Darfur state.” The Salamat omda urged the Sudanese authorities to take the reconciliation seriously, and “positively respond to the warring parties’ demands”. Leaders of the Taisha and Salamat tribes signed a cessation of hostilities agreement in March this year. In November 2013, bloody inter-tribal clashes erupted between the Salamat and Taisha in South Darfur. The reconciliation conference was scheduled to start in the first week of August, but was postponed as negotiators of the Taisha tribe did not arrive to Nyala. The Salamat held the South Darfur state authorities responsible for the delay. File photo: Participants of a tribal reconciliation conference in Darfur (Unamid)  Related:  Salamat elders insist on meeting Sudan’s president (3 september 2014)’South Darfur state delays tribal reconciliation’: Salamat (22 August 2014)