A peace and reconciliation conference between the Arab nomadic tribes Rizeigat and Ma’alia of East Darfur state has kick off on Tuesday evening in Merowe town in Sudan's Northern State, according to a tribal leader.

Saeed Dou El Beit, a member of the Ma’alia delegation at the conference, told Radio Tamazuj that the meeting started after tribal leaders representing the Ma’alia arrived in the venue of the meeting in Merowe.

He further said the meeting was officiated by the First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Saleh. The Ma’alia tribesman pointed out that the magistrate committee headed by Shartai Ibrahim Abdullah yesterday started to hold separate meetings with the delegations of the two feuding tribes.

He revealed that their delegation is headed by nazir Mohamed Ahmed El Dhafi.

The peace conference between the Rizeigat and Ma’alia was initially scheduled to kick off on 15 February, but it failed after the East Darfur governor and Minister of Local Government insisted 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.