Misseriya say government militia aided rival tribe in clashes

The Misseriya accused a rival tribe of military cooperation with uniformed Border Guards in recent clashes in west and south Darfur. A tribal leader suggested that the Rizeigat thereby used the government military apparatus against the Misseriya. The two Arab tribes are negotiating at a government-sponsored peace conference in Zalingei. The omda and spokesman of the Misseriya delegation at the peace conference, Yusef Isaag Al Nur, said they see this third party’s involvement as an obstacle to a reconciliation agreement between the feuding tribes. In fighting that begun on 4 June in villages some 20 kilometers west of Kass, 41 were killed and 16 injured, according to an assessment mission led by UN peacekeepers on 10 June. During the preceding months, dozens more were reported killed in several incidents. On Sunday, the vice chairman of the West Darfur State government’s Misseriya-Rizeigat reconciliation committee told Radio Dabanga that it was too early to say whether a third party was involved in the conflict.

(Photo: The opening session of the reconciliation conference in Zalingei on 3 June 2010, attended by UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari (center). UNAMID – Olivier Chassot.)