A peace and reconciliation conference between the Arab nomadic tribes Rizeigat and Ma’alia of East Darfur state failed to kick off yesterday in Merowe town in Sudan’s Northern State, according to a tribal leader.
Yusuf Ali Hamid, a Ma’alia tribal leader in East Darfur state, said that the meeting has not yet started because tribal leaders representing the Ma’alia refused to travel to the venue of the meeting in Merowe.
He disclosed that the East Darfur governor and Minister of Local Government Farah Mustafa were insisting that the peace talks with the Agariba section of the Ma’alia tribe should be separated from talks with the other Ma’alia sections, prompting Ma’alia leaders not to travel to Merowe town yesterday.
Yusuf further said the deputy nazir and some traditional leaders in Khartoum also refused to go for the same reason. He pointed out that the Ma’alia tribe sees that they are one body that shouldn’t be separated.
“But the governor and the minster see that the issue should be separated into two which delayed the peace conference,” he said.