Messiria tribe

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Baggara belt

The Messiria (

Baggara
are the second largest ethnic group in Western Sudan, extending into Eastern Chad. They are primarily nomadic cattle herders and their journeys are dependent upon the seasons of the year. The use of the term Baggara carries negative connotations as slave raiders, so they prefer to be called instead Messiria.

Geography of Messiria Country (Dar Al Messiria)

Baggara in general and the Messiria in particular still frequently travel on ox-back.

[citation needed

]

The term Dar means land or location. The word Al or al and sometimes El or el corresponds to the definite article The in English. The term Dar Al Messiria means the land or location of the Messiria. According to Ian Cunnison 1966,

Baggara, by contrast, live on their southern fringes; occupying the area roughly south of 12 degrees north
and extending well into flood basins of the White Nile to the south.

In general the Dar Al Messiria or their zones can be divided into three areas:
1.1. Dar Al Messiria in Kordofan, Sudan.
1.2. Dar Al Messiria in Darfur, Sudan.
1.3. Dar Al Messiria in Chad.

The Messiria in the three different zones have been separated for so long that they have developed localized cultural and social differences. The Messiria in

Dar Fur and Chad
, but they belong to the same tribe and they have similar subtribal divisions and diversities.

Dar Al Messiria in Kordofan, Sudan

In Kordofan, the Messiria occupies the area historically known as West Kordofan, among their well known locations are: Abyei, Babanousa, El Muglad, Lagawa, El Mairam, and Lake Kailak.

Messiria Divisions in Kordofan

The main divisions of Messiria in

Humr do not mean in any way that the Zurug are darker in skin color than Humr, but most likely the Humr are darker than Zurug ones. According to MacMichael, 1967:[4] The two divisions have become so distinct that the Humr have ceased to rate themselves Messiria. However, in Sudan
today, still they are called Messiria Humr and Messiria Zurug and still they acknowledge their common history and ancestry.

The Messiria Humr pastoralists migrate across the four regions of their homeland ("Dar el Humr“): Babanusa, Muglad, Goz and Bahr el Arab.[5]

  • Messiria Zurug – According to MacMichael, 1967[4] the Messiria Zurug have the following divisions:
A – Awlád Um Sálim
B – El Ghazáya
C – El Diráwi
D – El Enenát
E – Awlá Abu Na'amán
F – El Zurug
G – Awlád Haybán

Still there subtribal divisions with each subtribes.

  • Humr
     are divided into:
A —'Ajaira:
1. Fayyarin
2. Awlád Kamil
3. Mezaghna
4. Fadliya
5. Menama
6. 'Addal
B – Felaita:
1. Metanin
2. Ziyud
3. Awlád Serur
4. Jubarat
5. Salamat

Dar Al Messiria in Darfur, Sudan

The area known as Nitega (نتيقة) is the mainland of the Messiria in

Dar Fur
, among the landmarks in the area is the Mountain Karou (جبل كرو).

Second Sudanese Civil War: 1983–2005

Background of the conflict

The Misseriyya mostly live around

Dinka territory. They are marginally represented in Darfur and there they live a semi-sedentary life. The Misseriyya was once a larger group, but fragmented into smaller groups over time.[6]

The location of Messiria of

Hawazma
sided with Sudanese Government.

Historical grazing disputes

During the dry season the Misseriya migrate to the river Kiir in Abyei. They call the region the Bahr Al Arab.[7]

Both branches of Messiria, the Humr and the Zurug, are involved in historical grazing disputes and isolated fights along their southern borders, either with

Nuba over grazing and water resources. The traditional fighting was intensified during the first Southern guerrilla's fighting, called Anyanya,[9] in 1964 when a whole Messiria nomad camp around lake Abyyad was massacred in a terrible human slaughter by Anyanya
fighters, none were spared including children, elderly and brides; many Messiria were abducted and women were raped by the rebels. The Messiria retaliated with a sequence of attacks targeting Southern villages and nomadic camps; they abducted children and raided cattle. At the time, the abductions and retaliations became the norm in the region, but, mostly children and cattle were retrieved by local authorities and the spirit and will of coexistence always prevailed.

Such targeting of

Hawazma and Messiria taking up arms. In around 1908, the British armed the Nuba to fight against the expansion of the Northern Arabs in the region. Weapons, known locally as Marmatoun and Ab’gikra, were as common among Nuba as AK-47
among Baggara Arabs today. All these indicate that the ingredients of ethnic war already exist in the region and the new SPLA war was just an ignition of an existing ethnic chasm in the area.

In Abyei the Dinka Ngok and Misseryia are engaged in territorial disputes.[10]

The Civil War

See the Civil War under

Baggara
tribes to suffer from the Southern war.

The Sudanese government gave the Misseriya Arab militia machine guns and ordered them to drive the Nilotic peoples from the Western Upper Nile oil region. They successfully took the Luk Nuer in Bentiu and Eastern Jikany Nuer in 1984.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ Adam, Biraima M. 2012. Baggara of Sudan: Culture and Environment, Amazon online Books. Baggara of Sudan: Culture and Environment
  2. ^ a b Ian Cunnison, 1966, Baggara Arabs, Power and the lineage in a Sudanese Nomad Tribe, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pages: 1–3
  3. ISBN 978-0-300-16273-8
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7146-1113-6
    , 260 pages.
  5. ISBN 90-04-06404-4
    .
  6. ^ Flint, J. and Alex de Waal, 2008 (2nd Edn), Darfur: A new History of a Long War, Zed Books.
  7. ISBN 978-1-56432-364-4
    . Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  8. ISBN 9780300162738
  9. Richard Crockett
    2010.Yale University Press Sudan Darfur and the Failure of an African State p. 45 (also spelled Anya-Nya, a term for snake poison)
    ISBN 9780300162738
  10. ^ Al Jazeera (5 January 2011). "Tribal trouble in Sudan". ALJAZEERA. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  11. ISBN 1-56432-193-2
    . Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  12. Richard Crockett
    2010.Yale University Press Sudan Darfur and the Failure of an African State
    ISBN 9780300162738
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