Security officers in Aweil have blocked Rizeigat Arab delegates from Darfur from reaching a tribal conference organized by the government of Western Bahr el Ghazal and the organization Concordis International.
Three Land Cruisers carrying Rizeigat delegates were headed from El Daien in South Darfur toward Raja via Aweil and Wau when they were stopped and detained in the capital of Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
The conference was set to begin today in Raja town but has been postponed owing to the interference by the security. According to a member of the preparatory committee in Raja, the delegates were arrested on Friday by security personnel in Aweil town. He said the security arrested the delegates from the Rizeigat community because they failed to produce a document for their mission to South Sudan.
A security source in Aweil confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the Rizeigat are being detained in a prison of the CID, South Sudan’s internal security branch.
The exact number of people detained is not yet clear but the number of vehicles was three. Conference organizers were expecting about 40 participants from the Rizeigat tribe, according to Mandy Gardner, director of Concordis International in South Sudan.
Gardner said that the conference was approved by Rizik Zacharia, the governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal, noting that coordination between the two state governments could resolve the problem.
Another 40 participants are expected from the Habbaniya tribe of southwestern Darfur, but they would travel directly from Buram to Raja, not via Aweil.
According to an organizer in Raja, some of the Habbaniya delegates got stuck along the Timsa-Raja road owing to mechanical failure of their vehicle. A number of other participants, on the other hand, have already arrived since two days ago from Aweil, Wau and some payams of Raja county.
The conference is to be chaired by the new county commissioner Hassan Gulab, who took up his post in October.