hpg

hpg
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
hpg
Humanitarian
Policy
Policy
Group
Group Policy Group

Put out to pasture

War, oil and the decline of Misseriyya
Humr pastoralism in Sudan
Sara Pantuliano, Omer Egemi, Babo Fadlalla and Mohammed Farah
with Mohammed Elamin Abdelgadir

March 2009

ISBN: 978 0 85003 896 5

9 78085 0 038965

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 About the authors

Sara Pantuliano is a Programme Leader and Research Fellow with the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the
Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Omer Egemi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography at the University of Khartoum.

Babo Fadlalla is a Professor at the College of Forestry and Range Sciences at the Sudan University of Science and
Technology in Khartoum.

Mohammed Farah is a Researcher at the Social and Economic Research Institute in the Ministry of Science and
Technology in Khartoum.

Mohammed Elamin Abdelgadir is a Consultant for the Three Areas for USAID/OTI in Khartoum.

Humanitarian Policy Group

Overseas Development Institute
111 Westminster Bridge Road
London
SE1 7JD
United Kingdom

Tel: +44(0) 20 7922 0300

Fax: +44(0) 20 7922 0399
Website: www.odi.org.uk/hpg
Email: [email protected]

ISBN: 978 0 85003 896 5

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Acronyms v

1. Introduction and methodology 1

1.1 Background 1

2. Livelihoods under stress: chronic vulnerability and adaptive changes 3

2.1 Main livelihood profiles in Dar Misseriyya 3
2.2 External shocks 5
2.3 Changes in livelihoods strategies 7

3. Responses to livelihood vulnerability in Dar Misseriyya 9

3.1 Pastoralist resettlement schemes in the 1960s and 1970s 9
3.2 Large-scale development schemes in the 1980s 9
3.3 International engagement during the conflict 11
3.4 Current international engagement 11

4. Livelihoods in Dar Misseriyya today 13

4.1 The livestock sector 13
4.2 Non-livestock subsistence livelihoods 15
4.3 The oil industry 17
4.4 Services 19

5. Peace and development in Dar Misseriyya: perceptions and perspectives 23

5.1 Evolving tensions in the Western Sector: current dynamics 23
5.2 Main actors 23
5.3 The CPA, the ABC and the Road Map 25
5.4 Relations with neighbours 25

6. Interventions for stability and development: harnessing opportunities for change 27

6.1 The drive towards sedentarisation 27
6.2 Supporting stability and development: programming opportunities and priorities 27

References 31

Annex 1 Misseriyya Native Administration system 32

Annex 2 Water yards, pumps and latrines in Muglad locality 35
Annex 3 The stock route project 37

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff of the agencies that Paul Murphy (Saferworld) and Rasha Omar (IFAD). Thanks also
commissioned and supported this study for their input to Mohamed Aldoreik, the Commissioner of Muglad Locality,
throughout the research, particularly Chris Johnson (UNMIS), for his strong support to the study and facilitation of meetings
Jason Matus (UNRSCO) and Graham Thompson (DFID). Special with Misseriyya tribal leaders. Faki Nawai of Muglad deserves
thanks are also due to Richard Haselwood (Mercy Corps), special thanks for his hospitality and hosting of the team in his
Hussain Halane (SC-US), Janu Rao (Concern), Jeanne Briggs and house during the fieldwork. We also thank Samir Elhawary and
Ken Spear (USAID-OTI) for generously seconding staff members Sara Pavanello (ODI) and Olivia Toye (independent) for their
and consultants to the study. We are particularly grateful to help with the background research for the study, and Matthew
Concern, German Agro-Action (GAA), Mercy Corps and SC-US for Foley for his expert editing of the paper. A special thought
the extensive logistical support provided. Mohamed Mabrouk, goes to Professor Al Wakeel, who had to withdraw from the
Concern’s programme manager in Muglad, and his colleague study at an early stage due to ill-health.
Rashid deserve special thanks for joining the study team in the
field during the difficult period of the rainy season; their We are particularly grateful to the people of Dar Misseriyya for
determination and support were instrumental to the success of the time given and interest shown in the study and for patiently
the fieldwork. Thanks are also due to Mie Kataoka and enduring prolonged interviews and discussions, in some cases
Mahendra of WFP El Obeid for their logistical support en route. at night and during weekends. We hope that the findings and
recommendations of this study will be of use to national and
The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the international organisations and institutions in their efforts to
many people who contributed in numerous ways to the study, strengthen the livelihoods of women and men, older people and
including research support, the provision of documents and youth in Dar Misseriyya and Abyei as a whole.
materials and revisions of earlier drafts, particularly Julie Flint
(independent), Jacqueline George (CARE), Caroline Gullick ODI gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the UK
(independent), Sokol Kondi (UNMIS), Marv Koop (PADCO), Department for International Development (DFID) to the study.

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Acronyms

ABC Abyei Border Commission

APC Abyei Peace Committee
ARS Area Rehabilitation Scheme (UNDP)
CNPC China National Petroleum Corporation
CPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement
DDR disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation
GAA German Agro Action
GNPOC Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company
GOS Government of Sudan
GOSS Government of Southern Sudan
HAC Humanitarian Aid Commission
IDP internally displaced person
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
JEM Justice and Equality Movement
LRC Livestock Route Company
NCP National Congress Party
NDO National Development Organisation
NEX-MSU National Execution Management Support Unit (UNDP)
NSR Northern Stock Route
NWC National Water Corporation
OLS Operation Lifeline Sudan
PACTA Programme Advancing Conflict Transformation in Abyei
PADCO Planning and Development Collaborative International
PCP Popular Congress Party
PDF Popular Defence Force
PDOC Petrodar Operating Company
PHCC Primary Health Care Centre
RCSO Resident Co-ordinator’s Support Office
SC-US Save the Children US
SDG Sudan New Pound
SKADP South Kordofan Agricultural Development Project
SKRPU South Kordofan Rural Planning Unit
SPLA Sudan People’s Liberation Army
SPLM Sudan People’s Liberation Movement
SSR Southern Stock Route
TLU Tropical Livestock Unit

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UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNFPA United Nations Population’s Fund
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNMIS United Nations Mission in Sudan
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WFP World Food Programme
WNPOC White Nile Petroleum Operating Company
WSRMP Western Sudan Resource Management Programme

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Chapter 1
Introduction
This report presents the findings of a study into the current The Misseriyya belong to the Baggara Arabs and have been
evolution of Misseriyya livelihoods commissioned by the UK living in the areas of south-western Kordofan and south-
Department for International Development upon request from eastern Darfur since the end of the 1700s (Cunninson, 1966).
UNMIS and UNRCSO Abyei. The study was conducted by a five- The area is customarily referred to as Dar Misseriyya, and it
person team comprising one Arabic-speaking, international is internally defined by three long transhumance routes
researcher with extensive knowledge of Sudan and pastoralism called murhals (the Western, Central and Eastern murhals).
and four experienced Sudanese researchers1 with expertise in The Misseriyya are divided into two main sub-groups: the
pastoralism, range management, animal production and Zuruq and the Humr. The Humr sub-tribe has two main
agricultural economics. All five researchers were familiar with sections, the Ajaira and the Fallaita. Each of these is
Dar Misseriyya and had conducted substantive fieldwork in the administratively divided into five sub-sections called
region in the past. Two team members hailed from the region omodiya. The Ajaira are divided into Fayarin, Awlad Kamil,
itself, a factor which facilitated access to stakeholders in many Mezaghna, Fadliya, Menama and ‘Addal, while the Fallaita
of the areas visited. are divided into Metanin, Ziyud, Awlad Serur, Jubarat and
Salamat. Each of these omodiyas is also divided into
Data collection was carried out between June and September in lineages called khashm al-beyt. Almost every lineage is then
Sudan and the UK in order to gather academic and grey material subdivided up to three times into further lineages also called
on the Misseriyya. A wealth of documents was uncovered, khashm al-beyt, apart from the smallest unit, which is called
including substantial technical studies on the area carried out in a surra (Cunnison, 1966: 8–9). The division between the
the 1980s and after. The field study took place over two months Ajaira and the Fallaita is reported to have been fostered by
in September and October with two separate fieldtrips. The the British colonial administration and reflected the need for
team interviewed a wide range of stakeholders (including local an organisation that could enforce law and order, collect
leaders, administrators, elders, youth, women, pastoralists, ex- taxes and transmit administrative orders (HTS, 1981 (annex
pastoralists, farmers, traders, paravets and aid workers) in 5): 67–68).
nomadic furqan (sub-units), small settlements and larger towns
along the three Misseriyya transhumance routes. Locations In the surras, clusters of households gather together in small
where fieldwork was undertaken include: Babanusa, el-Bija, camps called iyal rajil. Within a traditional household, each
Debab, el-Fula, Momo, al-Muqaddama, Kharasana, Keilak, el- married woman possesses her own tent, where her husband
Khudr, el-Muglad, Nyama, Sammoa and Siteib. and children stay. Children usually have their own herd, in
which women traditionally have milking rights. Husbands may
Data collection and field analysis focused on assets, be linked to more than one tent if they are polygamous or are
livelihoods strategies and outcomes, which were examined providing for a divorced or widowed relative. As a result,
within the broader environmental, social, political and multiple tents in a camp can come under the direct or indirect
economic context to take into account the institutions, authority of one person (HTS, 1981 (annex 5): 56–57). There is
policies and processes affecting the changes Misseriyya considerable fluidity and flexibility between groups, for
livelihoods are undergoing. Special attention was paid to the economic and social reasons, and households and
relationships between different interest groups in the area, to cooperative associations can change and move to other
map evidence of competition over resources and to identify groups. This is facilitated by the lack of group rights for
other points of possible conflict. specific stretches of land (Cunnison, 1966). The mainstay of
the tribe is cattle, which is devolved between generations in
1.1 Background two ways: inheritance after the death of a family member, and
by the holder passing the property to his children or others
The Misseriyya are a pastoralist group occupying the Western (HTS, 1981 (annex 5): 58).
Sector of Southern Kordofan State, which was created through
the merger of former West Kordofan and South Kordofan The ecosystem of the Misseriyya can be defined as a non-
states in 2005. The merger was stipulated by the equilibrium environment, with no long-term balance between
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the war populations, available resources and other elements of the
between North and South Sudan in 2005. The Western Sector ecosystem. Misseriyya areas are characterised by high rainfall
lies between longitudes 270 10’-290 58’ E and latitudes 090 variability, scarce water, low natural biological productivity
00’-120 00’ N. and extreme temperatures. The climate ranges from desert to
1 One of the researchers was seconded by USAID for the second phase of semi-humid. It is hot throughout the year, with maximum
the fieldwork. temperatures from 42oC in May to 31oC in January. Minimum

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temperatures range from 24oC in May to 13oC in January. Nuba Mountains. Perennial water sources are Bahr al-Arab
Rainfall is highly seasonal and erratic, going from more than (also known as the River Kiir), Lake Keilak and the Rugab
750mm in the south to less than 200mm in the north. Drought (sing.: raqaba, a water course draining into the Bahr al-Arab).
is frequent, occurring one year in ten on average in the higher Water sources, including wadis and khors, are predominantly
rainfall areas of the south, and in recent times three years out used for livestock and horticulture production, while
of ten in the north (IFAD, 2004: 27). Soil types vary from agriculture is mostly rain-fed (Ali Siddig et al., 2007). While the
stabilised sand dunes (Qoz soils) to cracking clay (vertisols) utilisation of water sources does not seriously affect natural
and non-cracking clay soils (Gardud). vegetation and soils, the degree of degradation around open
water sources is increasing as more and more owners from
The availability and distribution of water is a crucial element in northern Kordofan, particularly the Hamar, come to spend the
the livelihoods of the Misseriyya. In rural Southern Kordofan dry season in the Humr region (El Sammani, 1985: 79–80).
there are three main sources of water: underground, surface
and sub-surface. Water is collected in four main ways: 1.1.1 Population
traditional hand-dug wells (a mix of surface and ground water), In what was then the Western district of South Kordofan, the
hafirs (surface water), water yards (groundwater) and boreholes population was estimated to be 154,014 in the mid-1950s
(underground water). Hafirs and water yards are relatively new, (HTS, 1981 (annex 5): 17). There is no reliable data on
dating back only to the late 1920s (HTS, 1981 (annex 2): 89). This population since then, though an HTS report put the
is also when the first two boreholes were drilled in Muglad. population at 297,057 in 1980 (ibid.: 16). Recent data
Borehole drilling commenced again after the Second World War (National Population Council, 2008) put the total population
and gathered pace during the 1960s. About 140 boreholes were of former West Kordofan at one million in 1993, 1.2 million in
drilled in the Humr region, half of the total recorded by El 2005 and 1.3 million in 2008. Population density differs
Sammani in 1985 (pp. 77–78). Boreholes are concentrated throughout the region, with the average around 12 persons
along migration routes and near to settlers’ locations, per square kilometre. Just over half of the Misseriyya
particularly the larger urban centres of Muglad and Babanusa. population (50.69%) is between 15 and 59 years of age (ibid.:
41). Life expectancy at birth is 57.5 years for women and 52.8
Surface and subsurface water vary in their quality and years for men (ibid: 68). Three-quarters (76.09%) of the
reliability. These sources include surface pools (butas and population lives in rural areas (see Table 1).
rahads), seasonal streams (Wadi Shalengo, el Ghalla and el
Hagiz) and perennial water courses. Butas and rahads are The area inhabited by the Misseriyya is also shared by other
used for livestock watering and domestic needs during the groups, including the Um Bororo, nomadic pastoralists of
rainy season, when pools are plentiful. They seldom last long, West African origin; West African farmers, mainly settled in the
except in some clay soil areas where they can remain until Lake Keilak region; Nuba communities in Lagawa Province
December. The main beneficiaries of the seasonal springs, (where there is a prevalence of Misseriyya Zuruq) and Dinka
which have high discharge during the rainy season, are in the groups (Ngok and Malwal) in the south of the region.

Table 1: Distribution of rural and urban population in Kordofan, 2005

Total population (million) Rural % Urban %
West Kordofan 1.2 76.09 23.91
Northern Kordofan 1.6 65.10 34.90
South Kordofan 1.2 72.83 27.17
Source: National Population Council 2008: 48

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Chapter 2
Livelihoods under stress: chronic vulnerability
and adaptive changes
2.1 Main livelihood profiles in Dar Misseriyya movement from September to November. This is a well-
watered area with good salty grazing, where many
Pastoralism and subsistence farming have traditionally been Misseriyya also have their gardens. Families often split up
the two main livelihood systems in Dar Misseriyya. Pastoralist here, with some members staying to tend the gardens and
communities in the region include both nomadic and semi- others continuing the migration.
nomadic (transhumant) camel and cattle herders (El Sammani, • Goz: this is a sandy area south of Muglad, used at the
1985). Although nomadism was the dominant system prior to beginning and end of the rains. It is seldom used for camps
the mid-1980s, an increasing trend towards transhumance was of long duration as it has less water than other areas and
registered in 1985 by El Sammani, with pastoralists maintaining harbours harmful insects.
a home base and only migrating seasonally. The trend towards • Bahr: this area is the southerly limit of the Misseriyya
transhumance was attributed to a growing tendency to spend migration. The Bahr Al-Arab river and the Keilak and Abyad
the dry season at government-provided water sources in the lakes provide ample water during the dry season. The timing
Muglad area (El Sammani, ibid.). Settled communities engaging and distance of the migration to the Bahr depend on a
in farming activities include smallholders, the vast majority of variety of factors, including size of the cattle herd, water
farmers, and owners of large mechanised farms. Whilst in most availability, balance between herding and cultivation,
of Southern Kordofan mechanised farms are mainly owned by perceived contamination of grazing and presence of
merchants and civil servants from the North or Khartoum, in the disease-carrying insects. Security in this area has been a
Western Sector almost all scheme owners are local, usually problem since the 1980s because of the increase in people,
hailing from the main centres (Muglad, Babanousa, al-Fula, herds and areas under cultivation and the resulting
Debab, Siteib, Kilo 50, Nama and al Jadeed). It is important to confrontations arising from competition over resources (HTS
note that there has never been a clear division between the two 1981 (Annex 5): 50–53). During the second North–South
livelihood systems: many households engage in both, conflict (1983–2005) the area experienced massive
combining pastoralism and farming. population displacement. Misseriyya herds were able to
access water and grazing resources relatively easily,
2.1.1 The pastoral system facilitated by government-supported Misseriyya militia.
The pastoralist livelihood system of the Misseriyya has Since the signing of the CPA, however, access to Bahr al-
evolved over the years to maximise resources. To cope with a Arab in particular has become increasingly difficult for
complex ecosystem where climatic crises are recurrent, the Misseriyya pastoralists.
Misseriyya, like most pastoralists in the Sudano-Sahelian belt,
have adopted a set of dynamic and flexible strategies that 2.1.2 The farming system
facilitate survival by allowing for the managed exploitation of Traditional crops in Dar Misseriyya are millet, durra (sorghum)
multiple resources. In particular, in order to take better and some cash crops, such as groundnuts and simsim (sesame).
advantage of the rangelands, they rely on opportunistic or Cash crops and excess millet are usually sold to meet basic
‘tracking’ strategies, whereby the variable availability of grass household needs, with any additional earnings being used to
is matched with livestock numbers and feed supplies are buy livestock (El Sammani, 1985: 4–5). Three main farming
tracked in time and space. Since rainfall is scattered and systems can be identified in the area (HTS, ibid. (annex 4): 15):
scarce, the Misseriyya move herds opportunistically to look
for water and grass, relying on regular transhumant 1. Millet-groundnut system: this is used throughout the Goz
movements to wetter areas south of the Bahr al-Arab. and the Dibeibat, El Fula and Abu Zabad plains. Millet has
Misseriyya pastoralists migrate along a north–south axis in traditionally been the staple grain (60% of cultivated land),
regular seasonal cycles through the four areas into which Dar while groundnuts are usually grown for sale (30%). Other
Misseriyya is naturally divided (Cunnison, 1966): crops include karkadeh (hibiscus), lubia (cowpeas),
watermelons, sesame and gum Arabic.
• Babanusa: a northern sandy area with good grazing, mainly 2. Millet-migratory herding system: centred in Muglad, this
used during the wet season, which starts in April/May system combines the cultivation of millet with livestock
(although water is often insufficient until June/July). production. Rather than a mixed farming system, it focuses
• Muglad: a 300-square-mile clay soil area, separated from on livestock as the main activity, with millet farming
Babanusa by the Hajiz watercourse, used during the occurring when and where possible to provide food for the
northward movement in June/July and the southward following year.

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Figure 1: Misseriyya Humr transhumant movements

Babanosa ABYEI LOCALITY

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Muglad WADY GALA

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Mugadama WADY SHALANGO

Dibab
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CENTRAL
ROUTE
South Nama
WESTERN Setaib
Darfur Al Fuda
ROUTE
Difra
Mayram Agad
EASTERN
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Key ROUTE
Livestock route
Heigkig
Railway Dambaloya
Temp. road Golay
Naam
Water Om Balayl
Namora
Makharif

Abyei Unity State

Petroleum field North Bahr
Al Gazal
Source: Brema, I. (2006) Unpublished MSc thesis. Khartoum: University of Khartoum.
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3. Clay plains system (Abyei and Keilak plains and Wadi a) government land subject to no right (confined mainly to
Shalengo): the valleys are the main areas of cultivation. the northern and central riverain regions and including the
The staple grain crop is predominantly sorghum (80% of deltas of Tokar and Gash in eastern Sudan); and
the cultivated area). Other crops include sesame, maize, b) government land subject to customary usufruct rights,
groundnuts, okra and vegetables. vested in a community such as a tribe or a section of a
tribe. Land in Dar Misseriyya falls within this category.
During the 1980s, most farmers cultivated sandy soils under
the millet-groundnut system. Indications of excessive The 1925 Land Settlement and Registration Ordinance, still in
cropping were already apparent, with consequent soil erosion force today, strengthened government control over land by
and low yields. The area as a whole suffered from regular stipulating that ‘all waste, forest and unoccupied land’ was
deficits of grain: while pastoralists were the most affected deemed government property unless otherwise proven.
group, in years of poor rainfall grain deficits also affected Within government ownership, however, customary land
sedentary groups (HTS, 1981 (Annex 5): 100). rights are recognised and maintained. Tribes, clans, families
and rural dwellers could consider land as de facto ‘their own’
2.2 External shocks in a communal arrangement system. One of the most
important features of such customary tenure is the right and
The Misseriyya livelihood system described above has been sovereignty exercised by the leadership of the native
systematically weakened by a series of external shocks. customary institutions in the allocation and administration of
These include restrictive land policies for pastoralists, land rights and the settlement of disputes. This right was
agricultural expansion, the weakening of local governance consolidated through the institutionalisation of the Native
structures and reduced capacity to manage local conflicts Administration, a system of indirect rile introduced by the
over resources, and climatic changes. The two most recent British colonial administration throughout rural Sudan.
and significant factors are insecurity in the Bahr al-Arab area
and the damaging impact of the oil industry. Conflicts sparked In 1970, the Unregistered Land Act, implemented all across
by competition among local groups over natural resources Sudan, effectively nationalised all unregistered land, denied
have been a long-standing characteristic of the region. In any formal legitimacy or juridical status to customary property
recent decades, however, additional factors such as civil war rights and denied prior land users the right to compensation
and, later, oil exploration have exacerbated tensions and for the loss of land. In 1984, however, the Civil Transaction Act
weakened livelihood systems. Misseriyya pastoralists have repealed the Unregistered Land Act. This maintains the basic
responded to these pressures through a process of principles of usufruct rights, while recognising that registered
adaptation, which for most households has resulted in usufruct rights are of equal status to registered ownership.
greater settlement and the cutting short of transhumant The Act also confirms the role of the state as a land owner and
movement south of the Bahr al-Arab area. manager. According to the Act ‘no court of law is competent to
receive a complaint that goes against the interest of the state’.
2.2.1 Adverse land policies The Act also stipulates the right of the government to impose
As in other areas of Sudan, the customary tribal homeland is temporal and spatial restrictions on grazing, and to allocate
the most important constituent of traditional land tenure in grazing land for the benefit of an entire community or for the
Dar Misseriyya. The collective security of the tribe is protection of wildlife. Although the Act offers the opportunity
constituted within the tribal homeland: individual rights to to allocate, and possibly register, pastureland in the name of a
land are recognised and can be inherited, but land cannot be community, it paradoxically gives the authorities the right to
taken away from the ownership of the tribe. The interlocking restrict or cancel such benefits.
relationship between people, land and systems of authority
has however been undermined over time by policies The legislation introduced in Sudan during the 1970s and
introduced both by colonial and independent governments. the 1980s allowed large-scale land alienation by powerful
groups. In Dar Misseriyya, mechanised farming, oil
Tribal stability was first interrupted in the late nineteenth exploration and traditional agriculture all encroached on
century, when tribal leadership was abolished and a new grazing land and communal forests. The effects of these
administration instituted based on army leaders. The British changes on the Misseriyya pastoral system were
colonial administration issued its first Titles to Land Ordinance compounded by a devastating drought during the 1980s,
in 1899, by which it recognised and started registering as the most severe recorded in Sudan in the twentieth century.
private property continuously cultivated lands in northern and The drought led to massive herd decapitalisation, especially
central riverain Sudan. The Ordinance excluded from land among small and middling herd owners. Many pastoralists
settlement and registration the wetlands of Sudan, including failed to recover and, impoverished, were forced to settle in
Dar Misseriyya, where no individual private ownership was the larger villages or on the outskirts of urban centres,
recognised. Unsettled areas were classified as government- where they were reduced to subsistence farming or petty
owned and divided into two classes: trade.

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2.2.2 Erosion of community governance million head) traditionally spend five months of the year in
The system of community governance and land management areas now affected by oil activities. A considerable number of
centred in the Native Administration has been weakened by functioning oil wells are already located inside livestock
restructuring measures. These have severely undermined the routes, bringing considerable disruption to the annual rhythm
representative character of the administration and politicised its of pastoral mobility.
role to the extent that tribal administrators (who are now
appointed by the government) no longer reflect tribal structures 2.2.4 Conflict
and interests. The main changes were produced by the abolition Relations between the Misseriyya and the Dinka have always
of the Native Administration in the 1970s and its reintroduction been fragile, with frequent clashes over water and pasture and
and reorganisation in the mid-1990s. The number of Misseriyya episodes of abduction and enslavement (Bradbury et al., 2006;
Humr Nazirs (paramount chiefs) was increased from three (one El Sammani, 1985). While local groups have developed
each for the Fallaita, Ajaira and Zuruq sub-tribes) to 17 Amirs mechanisms to mediate and prevent conflicts, including annual
(seven for the Zuruq, eight for the Humr, one for the Daju and meetings of tribal leaders, local leaders have increasingly lost
one for the Nuba); the number of omdas rose from 17 to 60, the ability to enforce their authority, in part because of the
while the number of sheikhs went from 100 to 656 (see Annex polarisation created by the civil war and the mobilisation of
1). Out of this total, 406 sheikhs are Ajaira (62%) and 250 are Misseriyya tribal militia in support of government forces. The
Fallaita (38%). Native Administrators are seen as more civil war also limited access to grazing areas, exacerbating
accountable to the government than to their own people. Most resource competition. During the war, the SPLM occupied rich
are based in towns, including Khartoum, and many are criticised grazing areas in the southern part of South Kordofan, cutting off
for ‘not being with their people’. This has created an acute important stock routes for Misseriyya pastoralists. As a
leadership crisis among the Misseriyya, manifested in a lack of consequence, pastoralists were compelled to graze on village
trust in traditional and political leaders. lands, sparking conflict with farmers (IFPRI, 2006).

2.2.3 The impact of oil Demographic pressure has also led to overgrazing around
Oil exploitation since the 1980s has had a detrimental impact water points, stock routes and villages (Siddig et al., 2007). In
both on the environment and on Misseriyya livelihoods. Oil the Lake Keilak area, for example, different pastoralist groups
facilities (drilling sites, pipelines and roadbeds) were planned coexisted for years until the 1980s, when increased
and built without considering the impact on local livelihoods. competition from nomadic groups led to ‘ferocious, even fatal’
Pipelines were constructed on farmland and grazing areas, fighting (El Sammani, 1985: 86).
stock routes were blocked, forest areas, farmlands and access
to good water sources were all reduced and the flow of water 2.2.5 The Comprehensive Peace Agreement
into farm and pasture areas was obstructed (IFPRI, 2006; The political event with the greatest repercussions on the
Siddig et al., 2007). Misseriyya pastoral system has been the signing of the CPA in
January 2005. The demarcation of the boundary of Abyei,
The discovery of oil also accelerated a reversal of migration envisaged by the Abyei Protocol (one of the five protocols
flows. This began in the 1960s, when many young Misseriyya which make up the CPA), has proved to be the most intractable
men, driven by high unemployment, joined the Sudanese army issue in the implementation of the CPA to date. Tensions in the
or migrated to central Sudan to find work. Two decades later, area have been high since the signing of the agreement,
the discovery of oil caused a boom in the Muglad job market, culminating in an outbreak of fighting in the town of Abyei
with oil companies employing around 1,000 workers and oil between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the SPLM. The
exploration leading to the creation of jobs in related industries fighting lasted for five days and led to the displacement of
(El Sammani, 1985). In the last few years, the opening of new over 50,000 people, mostly Dinka, who fled south. A small
roads along the pipeline has encouraged more people to move group of Misseriyya was also displaced and sought refuge
into the area. Demand for building materials and fuel has put northwards in Muglad town and surroundings.
further strain on already overused forest resources.
The Misseriyya commonly perceive themselves as victims of
During the study, oil exploration in Dar Misseriyya was the CPA, which they believe has had a devastating impact on
repeatedly described as ecologically and socially damaging their pastoral economy, restricting movement to the South.
(see Section 4.3). The most significant repercussion This has resulted in the loss of traditional grazing grounds
highlighted in the interviews is the ecological marginalisation around Bahr al-Arab and Lake Abyad and the economic
of the pastoral sector, with most of the land in the Western opportunities in the South that complemented livestock
Sector earmarked for further oil exploration (Khaleel, 2008). keeping, including honey collection, game hunting and the
The appropriation of such vast lands is expected to lead to collection and sale of wild fruits and grasses. Insecurity
further heavy pressure on pastoral resources and severe associated with the spread of arms has increased, and there
restrictions on livestock mobility. An estimated 60% of the has been a sharp reduction in the availability of Dinka and
total livestock population in the Western Sector (around 10 Nuba livestock and agricultural labour (see Section 4.2.2).

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2.3 Changes in livelihoods strategies stated that the traditional migration to dry-season grazing in
the South around the Bahr al-Arab/Kiir River has declined
These multiple pressures have spurred a rapid process of greatly since the CPA was signed, with only a few, very rich
transformation in the Misseriyya livelihood system, with an Misseriyya still moving to the South under special
apparent tendency towards sedentarisation. Key indicators arrangements with Dinka leaders and SPLA forces. Even in
include decreased mobility of families, as women and children these cases, insecurity has forced the adoption of special
tend to stay behind in villages; increased engagement in herding techniques including herd splitting, with nearly half of
agricultural activities; permanent residence around urban the herd kept in Dar Misseriyya. Middle-size herders tend to
centres; the partial sale of herds for investment in housing and stop in the Ruqab area, just north of Bahr al-Arab.
other permanent assets (shops) in towns; a gradual shift from
cattle to sheep; and the increased use of crop residues and Another aspect of changed pastoral mobility is the adoption of
oilseed cakes as animal feed. A flourishing trade in agricultural family splitting, with women and children often staying in
by-products for feeding has been observed in local markets. villages (as evidenced by increased school attendance).
Families left behind usually keep a few cows to supplement
Although detailed data is lacking, it is clear that urban centres their income with milk sales. Some use donkey-drawn carts for
have grown dramatically in the last few decades, principally water vending and other casual income-generating activities.
because of migration from rural areas. Muglad town, Considerable numbers of the women and children left behind in
described as having a population of approximately 10,000 in these settlements become engaged in agricultural activities.
the early 1980s, has mushroomed to an estimated 90,000.
New residential quarters are emerging to house new arrivals According to data on population distribution in the main settle-
from surrounding rural areas. Mugadama village, in 1968 a ment clusters in the Debab area (Table 3), nomadic pastoralists
tiny nomadic camp of 12 families living around the water yard, are estimated to account for 45% of the total population,
currently has an estimated population of 2,000. Debab has compared with approximately 80% in the early 1990s.
grown from around 200 families in 1998 to 2,033 families in
2008, according to Village Development Committee records. Sedentary people generally consider themselves better-off
Schools have multiplied in parallel. Table 2 shows the than pastoralists, attributing the following characteristics to
tremendous changes that have taken place in education in their nomadic kin:
Debab and its surroundings, notably a significant increase in
the number of girls attending school. • their life is in constant danger;
• they suffer stress, fear and exhaustion;
Increased engagement in agriculture is generally seen as one • their women are extremely over-burdened;
of the most important indicators of the transformation in the • their children are unschooled and adults are illiterate;
pastoral economy of the Misseriyya. There is ample evidence • they are much poorer, and run a high risk of losing animals
that crop cultivation has become increasingly important in the and assets; and
household economy (see Section 4.2.1). Another form of • they are more susceptible to disease.
adaptation to external changes in the livelihood system has
been decreased mobility among pastoralists with medium- A key feature of Misseriyya adaptation is the gradual change
sized and large herds. Field investigations suggest that in animal species raised, from cattle to the hamar sheep of
pastoral movements between wet- and dry-season grazing North Kordofan, which are prized in Sudan and the Gulf for the
grounds have been significantly shortened. All interviewees quality of their meat and are more easily sold. The move to

Table 2: Number of schools and pupils in Debab and surrounds, 1998–2008

Location Number of schools Number of pupils Total pupils
Boys Girls Mixed Boys Girls
1998
Debab 0.0 0.0 1 110 37 147
Surrounds 0.0 0.0 4 537 132 669
Total 5 647 169 816

2008
Debab 3 2 0.0 1,889 895 2,784
Surrounds 0.0 0.0 7 1,280 536 1,816
Total 3 2 7 3,169 1,431 4,600
Source: Debab Administrative Unit, Education Files, 2008.

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Table 3: Settled and nomadic population in Debab area, 2008

Location No. of households No. of persons %
Debab 2,033 13,314
Gadeed 777 5,064
Kilo 50 499 3,258
Nama 748 5,166
Munawarra 692 4,620
Tumsah 452 2,850
Sub-total 5,201 34,272 55.0
Mobile nomads 28,000 45.0
Grand total 62,272 100.0

sheep-raising is also a result of the

restrictions on long migratory move-
ments, as sheep can be reared locally.

Despite sustained attempts to adapt the

livelihood system to new conditions,
pastoralist families with low livestock
holdings have become progressively more
impoverished over the last 10–15 years,
and many have abandoned pastoralism
altogether in favour of farming, charcoal-
making and casual labour in towns. This
change is especially apparent among
young people. As they lack skills outside
the pastoral sector, most are unemployed
or struggle to engage in the informal
economy in towns. Local estimates
suggest that as many as half of Misseriyya
youth are unemployed. Interviews with 62
young Misseriyya in Sammouaa, Keilak
and Khudur Market revealed that only Hamar sheep, an important trade item in Momo’s weekly market
eight (13%) had regular jobs. Violence,
facilitated by the wide availability of arms, was identified as an – accompanied usually by one woman for household chores –
important livelihood source (see section 4.2.2). embark on longer transhumant movements. Whilst middle-size
herders can stop in the Ruqab area, access to pasture and water
At the other end of the spectrum, wealthy livestock owners have resources south of the river is essential for larger livestock
seen a significant increase in their holdings, with herds herds in the dry season. Some large herd owners reportedly
reportedly growing from an average of 150–300 cows ten years move with their herds to the Central African Republic when
ago to 800–1,200 today. This pattern is common in pastoral access to the Bahr al-Arab cannot be negotiated.
societies under stress. Wealthy pastoralists have diversified
into housing and commercial trade, and increasingly invest in While the process of livelihood adaptation described above
their children’s education. This group has also started to buy has been under way since the early 1980s, the pace of change
new cattle breeds (Kenana and Foja, both from Sudan) in order has accelerated dramatically since the signing of the CPA.
to increase milk output (output is low among the indigenous Attention must be given to identifying interventions which
Baggara breeds). Partial sale of herds for investment in housing support the transformation and adaptation of Misseriyya
and other permanent assets in towns was widely mentioned. As livelihoods in a sustainable manner. First, however, the history
is the case with middle-size livestock herders, only young men of past interventions must be analysed, and lessons learned.

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Chapter 3
Responses to livelihood vulnerability in
Dar Misseriyya
Livelihood support interventions by international actors in Dar Targialla, Buta and Um Dagig) had been closed. The four
Misseriyya have had only a limited impact on the social and remaining schemes (Al-Haddaddi, Kilbat, Bagara and Sibeha)
economic conditions of local communities. Evaluation reports stayed open, but continued to suffer from significant
have attributed deficiencies to a host of factors, including difficulties (El Sammani, 1985).
poor project planning and management, recurrent civil strife
and general insecurity, bureaucracy, poor project management The most prominent of the settlement projects was for the Ajaira
and low technical skills in government agencies and a Misseriyya. The project was launched in 1969 by the Rural
projectised approach which has failed to integrate initiatives Development Department of the then Ministry of Cooperation
into government structures and institutions. Some of the most and Rural Development, and was later handed over to the
significant interventions are reviewed here. National Water Corporation. Executed in the area around Muglad
and to the west, the project objectives were the settlement of the
3.1 Pastoralist resettlement schemes in the 1960s Ajaira, improved animal productivity, enhanced use of natural
and 1970s resources, establishment of a model for improved economic
return from water provision, increased supply of milk to the
In common with other pastoralist groups, changing the Babanusa milk factory, and preparing the ground for increased
lifestyle of the Misseriyya, in particular encouraging them to provision of community services. El Sammani and Salih (2006)
settle, has been an objective of national governments since provide a good account on the project, the problems it faced and
the 1960s. Interventions started with the establishment of the the lessons learned. The project planned to cover an area of
Babanusa Milk Factory in the early 1960s. The factory was 70x70 km to be divided into 70 ranches, each with an area of 100
intended to provide an outlet for milk produced by Misseriyya km2. Each ranch was to have one borehole, to be fenced with
cows, processing it into powdered milk, ghee and cheese. Trial barbed wire and to carry only the cattle the land could sustain.
production started in 1967–68, followed by commercial Minor cropping was to be allowed near the borehole. At the start
production in 1969 with a modest 12 tons of milk powder per of implementation, the planned 70 ranches were reduced to
day. This increased gradually to 110 tons a day in 1974, after eight. The project was not received well locally, especially by the
which production began to fall and the factory was closed. The line technical departments. A project evaluation carried out in
Babanusa project failed because it was based on incorrect 1974 criticized the project for being top down, and judged that it
assumptions about the availability of milk for processing. The lacked adequate preparatory analysis of the range and pasture
Baggara cattle owned by the Misseriyya are beef animals and condition and the sociological characteristics of the target
produce only small amounts of surplus milk. Furthermore, the population. There was no consultation either with the Ajara and
Misseriyya remain near Babanusa for only two or three their leaders or with local government technical departments.
months a year. As a result, the Babanusa factory was unable The ranch sites selected obstructed the seasonal migration
to collect the quantities needed and failed to pay salaries. routes of many groups with established grazing rights over the
sites, resulting in conflict between herding groups and project
A number of government-sponsored ‘nomad settlement managers. As a result of this evaluation, five of the remaining
schemes’ were introduced in the region in the 1970s. Under eight ranches were terminated. The remaining three, considered
these schemes, a selected group of settlers would live year- less problematic, were left open for piloting but eventually
round in one of eight 100km2 enclosures in the Misseriyya closed down in 1980.
Humr area (El Sammani, 1985). Again, however, poor planning
and implementation led to serious problems. The areas 3.2 Large-scale development schemes in the 1980s
selected were not well chosen: three lay across traditional
migration routes and two were traversed by main trunk roads. A number of large-scale development schemes were
Only two of the eight were close to a rail line. The Misseriyya implemented in former South Kordofan Province (broadly
themselves were opposed to the scheme, which they saw as equivalent to today’s Southern Kordofan State) in the 1980s,
monopolising lands that played a key role in their pastoral with the support of international donors including ODA, GTZ,
system during the wet season. Water provision was the EC, the World Bank and USAID.
inadequate, the enclosures were prone to flies and fires,
damaging surface vegetation, and plant cover was poor (El 3.2.1 The South Kordofan Rural Planning Unit
Sammani, 1985; HTS, 1981; South Kordofan Rural Planning One of the largest initiatives was the establishment of the South
Unit, Annex 2). By 1981, four of the eight schemes (Al-Hajiz, Kordofan Rural Planning Unit, undertaken by Hunting Technical

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Services, a UK-based company. The unit was tasked with the were constructed. Meanwhile, the government intervened in
preparation of a Rural Development Plan, a three-phase project the staffing and operations of the LRC, hampering its work.
to support agricultural development in South Kordofan. The first Nonetheless, despite its problems the project succeeded in its
phase, which started in 1979 and lasted 15 months, formulated main goal of establishing water yards, and the number of
an indicative development plan. In phase two, which lasted 11 animals trekking on the route increased (World Bank, 1993).
months, two further plans were developed: the Central and
Western Development Plans. The third phase was to concentrate 3.2.3 The Agricultural Research Project
on the Eastern District of South Kordofan, but funding was never The Agricultural Research Project, a joint World Bank/
made available and the work finished after phase two. USAID/IFAD project, ran from 1978 to 1987. Its main objectives
were to facilitate the development of new agricultural
The project was meant to improve infrastructure in the region, technology in Kordofan and Darfur by building research
mainly road communications and water resources in the central capacity in two main areas, livestock and crop production
valleys. The intent was to encourage migration from the densely systems and water and land management. The project was
populated Nyama Otoro and Heiben Jebels areas to the plains. divided into two stages. The first consisted of the construction
Another component of the plan was to develop irrigation of buildings and the procurement of goods and staffing for
schemes in Ballul, Kufa and Berdab, in order to improve fruit research facilities, and the second was to launch the research
yields, increase vegetable production and reduce pressure on programmes. The project was developed in response to the
land around water points. In the Western District studies were government’s focus on irrigated agriculture and the neglect of
conducted on soil, vegetation, water resources, livestock wealth rain-fed regions in Western Sudan. It was to be integrated into
and livestock management systems. However, no development the government’s Master Plan for strengthening national
work took place apart from a pilot project on livestock capacity for research and technology development.
marketing aimed at modernising cattle movements through the
use of the railway, establishing marketing centres and The results of the project were mixed. The World Bank (1993a)
improving water supplies along cattle routes. deemed it a limited success, particularly in terms of
generating knowledge and interventions aimed at resolving
3.2.2 The Sudan Stock Route Project land and water disputes. But there was no timeframe for
In 1985, the World Bank and IFAD supported the Sudanese implementation and no examination of the resources needed,
government in developing the Sudan Southern Stock Route which meant that additional funds became necessary and the
Project, a $16 million initiative designed to renew and extend project was delayed. The project was not integrated into the
water supplies and veterinary services along a main livestock national research programme, and there were no incentives to
trade route, and to enhance market links from the project area attract scientists. Despite this, the project was judged to have
to main towns, to facilitate exports (see Annex 3). The project achieved its objectives of establishing research facilities and
was developed in response to the lack of infrastructure and training scientists, who subsequently published 55 reports of
services along trade routes, especially in Darfur and Kordofan, acceptable quality (World Bank, ibid.). The research led to the
and the increasing demand for meat in towns such as introduction of new crops in Kordofan, although mechanisms
Khartoum, Omdurman and Wad Medani. The project also for technology transfer were not well thought out. The
sought to reduce the incidence of livestock disease, ease the technical assistance provided by USAID reportedly lacked the
stress on animals using the route and prolong the migration managerial and logistical capacity to support an institution-
period beyond the rainy season. Although land and water building research programme, and highly qualified staff left.
disputes were identified as a significant problem in Kordofan
and Darfur, the project did not address land issues. 3.2.4 The South Kordofan Agricultural Development Project
The main aim of the joint World Bank/FAO/African
A dedicated body, the Livestock Route Company (LRC), was Development Bank South Kordofan Agricultural Development
created to implement the project (with 80% of the company’s Project (SKADP), which ran from 1989 to 1993, was to improve
shares put up for sale). The route initially chosen went from rain-fed agriculture and increase farmers’ income by
Nyala to Omdurman via En-Nahud and El Obeid (the Northern improving agricultural services, strengthening agricultural
Stock Route (NSR)). In 1981, an IFAD mission reported that institutions, increasing the availability of farm inputs,
water supplies could not be guaranteed along this route and improving water supplies and roads, enhancing crop
proposed an alternative route, the southern hafir stock route production technology and developing environmental
that runs under the railway track. The government rejected protection technology and cost recovery systems.
this and the project went ahead with the NSR (see Annex 3). It
had limited success. According to a World Bank evaluation This project also had mixed results. Little was achieved in
report, only half of the boreholes drilled were capable of terms of infrastructure development, implementing agencies
producing water along the stock route, which meant that the were weak, maintenance systems were overlooked and cost
number of water yards had to be reduced. Veterinary services recovery efforts represented a fraction of real costs. The 85
were delayed and reduced, and none of the planned buildings tractors procured by the project did not reach their intended

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recipients, and vehicles and other equipment were diverted to (PACTA), an inter-agency response aimed at fostering conflict
the security forces. Key constraints on the project included the transformation through development interventions. Despite
security situation, poor government counterpart funding, its high profile, PACTA’s impact was limited, as different
weak capacity, inadequately funded implementing agencies programme partners designed and implemented the various
and communications difficulties between SKADP and the projects in isolation. There was some coordination at
African Development Bank, the co-financer of the project Khartoum level, but none on the ground (UNDP, 2003: 28–30)
(World Bank, 1987; 1995). The most problematic factor,
however, was poor project design. Even if security conditions Smaller interventions were carried out in the 1990s by FAO,
had been favourable, results would have been limited, UNICEF, WFP and CARE. FAO focused on training paravets,
especially because farmers were not able to pay for the supporting vaccination campaigns and training community-
expensive water system envisaged. On the positive side, the based animal health workers. The scope of work was however
project did see improvements in rain-fed farming productivity very limited. UNICEF was concerned mainly with the
and animal health services improved, with vaccinations replacement and rehabilitation of boreholes and water yards, in
covering some 600,000 cattle a year. The programme partnership with the National Water Corporation. Interventions
successfully trained vets and supported investment by six also included support to primary health care, immunisation and
private pharmacies. The plant protection component the provision of school materials, but implementation was on
performed satisfactorily, with production of seedlings too small a scale to make a lasting impact. WFP worked in
increasing by 20%–50% (World Bank, 1995). partnership with UNDP to provide food for work for the
development of hafirs. Finally, CARE International was engaged
3.3 International engagement during the conflict in water development programmes in the provinces of En-
Nahud and Gubeish throughout the 1990s and part of the
The outbreak of the war in Southern Sudan in 1983 and the 2000s, mainly focused on hafir construction. It was not possible
imposition of sanctions on the military government which took for the study team to determine how many hafirs had been
power in 1989 saw the interruption of development assistance in developed, though it was apparent that most stopped
the 1990s and the first half of the following decade. International functioning very rapidly through lack of management and
assistance during this period was focused primarily on maintenance. Most were entrusted to communities with no
emergency relief, largely through Operation Lifeline Sudan links to the National Water Corporation.
(OLS), a humanitarian access mechanism agreed by the UN, the
Sudanese government and the SPLM in 1989. Assistance Water development has also been at the centre of IFAD’s
extended to the provision of water and other services aimed at efforts in former West Kordofan. IFAD is one of the few
improving livelihoods and reducing conflict over resources. international agencies with a long-term engagement in the
area, as part of its Western Kordofan Development
In former West Kordofan, the international response focused on programme. IFAD worked with the Ministry of Agriculture to
Dinka populations displaced from the South. A small number of promote the privatisation, rehabilitation and community
agencies were already operating in the region when, in management of boreholes in the En-Nahud area. However,
1992–93, most NGOs were pushed back behind the transitional there were difficulties with the National Water Corporation
zone into Southern Sudan. A few UN agencies maintained some (NWC), and communities were given no training or support
presence in former West Kordofan, but their role was limited from NWC to manage the wells they were given. The supposed
and focused on transitional assistance. One of the largest beneficiaries were reportedly never able to access the funds
interventions was the Area Rehabilitation Scheme (ARS) Abyei, to manage the installations and prevent the boreholes from
a UNDP project which ran from 1996 to 2000, headquartered in deteriorating (UNDP, 2003: 28–30).
El Foda. Although the focus of the project was meant to be the
reintegration of Malwal Dinka IDPs and the rehabilitation of the The only intervention communities themselves felt positively
war-affected area around Abyei, the project largely operated in about was the intensive vocational skills training offered by
the northern part of the programme area and directed its efforts the oil company Chevron in the 1980s, which resulted in
towards supporting Misseriyya groups through training and the employment in the oil industry for a number of local youth.
provision of credit facilities and key services, particularly water. Community development interventions undertaken by
The project was interrupted in 2000 when all UNDP Area Talisman, a Canadian oil company that was a major
Development and Rehabilitation Schemes in Sudan were shareholder in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company
terminated amidst allegations of financial mismanagement by (GNPOC) in the 1990s, were also spoken of positively.
the government executing agency, NEX-MSU.
3.4 Current international engagement
Following the closure of the ARS, in February 2002 UNDP,
together with four other UN agencies (WFP, FAO, UNICEF and Between 2002 and 2005, most interventions focused on
UNFPA) and local NGOs (ACAD and NDO), began the promoting dialogue between groups to encourage cooperation
Programme Advancing Conflict Transformation in Abyei on issues such as animal health and product marketing.

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Although there has been some progress, commitment is weak There is a great deal of resentment among Misseriyya about
and donors have sometimes been reluctant to provide funding. what they believe to be the disproportionately heavy presence
Since the signing of the CPA in 2005, the situation has been of international organisations in Abyei. Youth groups in
tense and most funding has been transitional rather than Muglad thought that some 30 international organisations
developmental. There has been some reintegration work and were in Abyei, when in fact there are just eight (FAO, Goal,
dialogue amongst communities and attempts have been made Mercy Corps, MSF, PADCO, SC/US, UNICEF and WFP. People
to improve relations with government authorities, but see an international bias towards the Dinka and feel
engagement north of Abyei has been limited. discriminated against. Comments were made about the
intimacy of expatriate staff with Dinka communities: ‘They
Very few international organisations are present in the five attend birth ceremonies, play with their children and visit
Administrative Units that cover the area inhabited by the them in their homes’. Ordinary people were critical of what
Misseriyya (Muglad, Debab, Keilak, Meiram and Sitaib). The they saw as an imbalance in the response to the displacement
only international NGO in this area is Concern Worldwide, that followed the clashes in Abyei in May 2008 and questioned
although Save the Children, Medair and Mercy Corps are the estimates of Dinka and Misseriyya IDPs (about 35,000 to
planning to extend their operations. German Agro Action 50,000 and 5,000 to 10,000 respectively). Few showed an
(GAA) ran a successful animal health and agricultural support understanding of the disparity of needs between
programme between the late 1990s and 2005, but had to scale displacement areas such as Agok and Muglad, and there
down operations because of funding shortages. GAA’s seems to be very little awareness among Misseriyya both of
interventions, in particular the focus on veterinary health care the different needs in war-affected areas and of the greater
and support to livestock production and small farming, were bureaucratic constraints in Southern Kordofan (particularly
well regarded in Misseriyya communities, and the concerning NGO registration and travel permits) as opposed to
organisation is in the process of restarting its programme. The GOSS areas.
veterinary lab it established in Debab is reportedly still
functioning well, managed by a local committee, the Communities also expressed great frustration towards
Charitable Society for Debab Development. organisations carrying out assessments without offering
assistance, and felt that they had received many promises but
In the past two years USAID has also been involved in the region no tangible follow-up. This adds to the anger already arising
through PADCO, a global economic and infrastructure develop- from the unfulfilled promise of support from the government-
ment firm. PADCO encompasses a wide range of activities, run West Kordofan Reconstruction Fund and from the absence
including water development, health facilities, capacity-building of tangible benefits from the 2% of oil revenues promised to
and skills training, peace support and civic education on the CPA. ‘the Misseriyya’ under the CPA. Frustration has been
PADCO is a grant making agency which works mainly through compounded by the economic and political problems
government and civil society groups. This has proved difficult as confronting many Misseriyya, particularly young people. The
government presence and engagement is weak and civil society following sections present an in-depth analysis of the economic,
groups are scarce and often highly polarised. social and political dynamics of the Misseriyya today.

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Chapter 4
Livelihoods in Dar Misseriyya today
4.1 The livestock sector Households with smaller herds now spend the dry season
within the boundaries of Dar Misseriyya. Insecurity and
4.1.1 Migration access restrictions in the South oblige them to depend on
The annual migration of the Misseriyya takes place between water from shallow wells, water yards and other sources such
the wet-season grazing areas (makhraf) in the north and the as dams and lakes. Women and children spend most of their
dry-season grazing (masiaf) towards the south. There are time in the Ruqab, while young men take the animals across
three main livestock routes (murhals), each divided into the Bahr al-Arab. The concentration of people in the middle
three sub-routes followed by one or two of the Ajaira and/or section of the murhal has reduced the amount of available
Fallaita sub-tribal groups. While the Western and Central water and people struggle to survive the dry season in places
murhals are inhabited by the Ajaira, the Eastern murhal is like Abu Qadama and Muqadama, where many Misseriyya
shared by the Fallaita and some Ajaira sub-tribes (Awlad congregate. All communities interviewed complained about
Omran and Fadliya). Table 4 shows the distribution of the the absence of hafirs, boreholes and water yards in the
various Misseriyya sub-groups between the different Ruqab.
murhals. All routes terminate in the south, the Western
murhal in Aweil, the Central murhal in the Toj and the Eastern Where water has been provided, as in Sitaib, the population
murhal in Bentiu, where the Misseriyya traditionally spend has sharply increased over the past few years. In Meiram the
the dry season between December and May. The majority of population doubles during the dry season. Small and medium-
the Fallaita group (Awlad Sirur, Matanin, Gubarat and sized herds stay in and around the town, while others go
Salamat) follow two eastern routes leading to Abullikri and beyond the river. The distance between Meiram and Bahr al-
Lake Keilak. While the Awlad Sirur and Matanin take the Arab is short, so many families stay in town. The concentration
Maada Al Humar route, the Gubarat and Salamat go through of livestock around limited water sources has helped degrade
Maada Mulah. the range and reduce its nutritional value. The increasing
number of pastoralists who settle in small towns for most of
In addition to the search for adequate pasture, this long the year are forced to abandon cattle-rearing and reduce their
migration is driven by the fact that providing water to large herds, with many eventually dropping out of the pastoral
herds is both tedious and expensive. Moreover, although sector altogether.
water may be available from large bodies such as Lake Keilak,
check dams like Abu Allikri and Kijera or from hafirs, the The overall livestock population remains high, however,
surrounding grazing becomes extremely scarce towards the especially since large livestock owners continue to use herd
end of the dry season as a result of overuse. multiplication to insure against losses caused by disease,

Table 4: Main livestock routes in Dar Misseriyya

Route Sub-route Tribe using the route Terminal point
Western murhal Murhal Faras Fayarin Aweil
Murhal Arad Fayarin
Murhal Fayarin Murhaka – Awlad Kamil Toj

Central murhal Murhal Um Sakeen Awlad Kamil

Murhal Al angareib Awlad Kamil – Mazaghna
Murhal Zarafa Mazaghna

Eastern murhal Murhal Abu Hemro Mazaghna – Awlad Omran Bentiu

Murhal Sarhaya Awlad Omran – Fadliya
Murhal Nama Awlad Omran – Fadliya – Zeyod

Fallaita murhals Murhal Mada Al Humur Awlad Sirur, Matanin Keilak, Abullikri and Lake Abyad
Murhal Mada Mulah Gubarat – Salamat

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Table 5: Livestock numbers in Dar Misseriyya (million) day, as opposed to the 60–70 pounds a day produced by the
cows used by milk factories such as Capo in Khartoum), and
Animal species Number TLU
would not sustain a dairy economy. Attempts to introduce
Cattle 5.10 3.57
improved breeds such as Kenana local breeds in Debab have
Sheep 2.55 0.51 shown these species to be too sensitive to biting flies.
Goats 2.00 0.36 Northern Sudanese species have been more successful.
Camels 0.25 0.25
Equines 0.25 0.13 4.1.3 Constraints on production
Total 10.20 4.81 The Misseriyya production system is constrained by a host of
Source: General Administration of Animal Wealth, Ministry of Agriculture, factors. The most important are inadequate nutrition,
Animal Resources and Natural Resources, El Fula, South Kordofan State. disease, poor husbandry practices, high mobility, insufficient
water supplies and poor market structure. Rangelands in
Southern Kordofan are usually grazed during the dry season,
drought or insecurity. Overall, the number of animals in Dar at a time when nutritive value, especially the content of crude
Misseriyya has been estimated at 10.2 million head, protein, has deteriorated due to plant maturity and
equivalent to 4.8 million Tropical Livestock Units (TLU), as senescence. Energy value also falls drastically as a result of
shown in Table 5. pasture scarcity and reduced digestibility. The scarcity of
4.1.2 Markets forage is a consequence of the uneven distribution of water
points, which leaves large areas of grazing lands under-
Selling livestock constitutes an essential component of the utilised, while wild fires can wipe out between a third and a
Misseriyya household economy. Markets are seasonal and half of grazing. On top of this, animals have to walk
follow the annual rhythm of migration. Table 6 shows the main increasingly long distances in search of fodder, using up
markets in the area. valuable energy. The changes in the external environment
over the last few decades have necessitated changes in
The only permanent market in the area is Muglad. This is where Misseriyya husbandry practices, including an increase in the
large traders from Khartoum and El Obeid come to purchase number of mature males in herds (Bunderson et al., 1984). An
livestock for sale in urban centres or for export to the Gulf, excessive number of mature males among Misseriyya herds
Egypt and Libya. Most traders buy one or two murahs (one was observed during the fieldwork in October 2008. The
murah equals 50 cattle or 200 sheep), but some buy as many stress on rangelands could be significantly reduced simply by
as 40. Traders confirm that there has been an overall increase reducing the number of mature males. This would require
in livestock numbers in the last ten years, with sheep numbers management interventions aimed at creating awareness,
growing more rapidly than cows. Despite this, trade has been marketing and establishing investment opportunities other
very weak in the last few years, partly as a result of the export than in livestock for those willing to sell males. Disincentives
ban imposed on Sudan by neighbouring countries because of a may also work, such as levying a larger tax on market sales of
suspected outbreak of Rift Valley fever. Livestock traders and older males.
community leaders attribute the collapse of the livestock trade
in Muglad to increasing insecurity, deterring middlemen from
coming to the region. Although cattle and sheep prices have Table 7: Feed production in the Western Sector of South
fallen steeply as a result, many remain unsold. The export ban Kordofan State
was lifted in December 2008, but traders were still reluctant to Feed Production (thousand tons)
travel to insecure areas with large amounts of cash.
source Locality
Abyei Essalam Lagawa/ Total
There is limited trade in livestock by-products, largely because
Keilak
the milk output of Misseriyya cows is very low (ten pounds a
Total 2,859 2,202 728 5,789

Table 6: Main livestock markets

Wet-season grazing areas Dry-season grazing areas In 2006, a range survey conducted by the IFAD-funded
Abu Batikh Nimatein Siteib Fuda Western Sudan Resource Management Programme (WSRMP)
Abu Gabra Bashama Al Odam Tadama calculated the total production of animal feed from the range
Sammoa Muqadama Umm Daries Shigy and other sources in the Western Sector of South Kordofan.
Kilo 50 Janama The results are shown in Table 7.
Abu Haimorah Al Agad
The total feed requirements of the 4.8 million TLU in Dar
Al Dambaloy Kadama
Misseriyya are estimated at 14.4 million tons, assuming that
Golay
one TLU requires three tons a year. Taking the WSRMP

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production figure of 5.8 million tons, this leaves a deficit of 8.6 labour and financing. As a general rule, half of the area is given
million tons, or 59.7% of annual requirements. However, there over to food crops, mainly millet, and the other half to cash
has been no census in recent years and actual animal numbers crops, especially groundnuts and hibiscus. Sesame tends to
may be lower than stated. be cultivated in very small areas. Intercropping of cash crops
is common. Crop yields in 2007 averaged three or four sacks
4.2 Non-livestock subsistence livelihoods (270–360kg) per mukhama for millet, compared with around
eight sacks (720kg) a decade ago. Reductions in crop yields
4.2.1 Agriculture are attributed to lower rainfall and declining soil fertility
Crop cultivation has become increasingly important in recent caused by continuous cultivation.
years as a result of the decline in mobile pastoralism. The data
presented in Table 8 shows that the area under cultivation In 2003, semi-mechanised rainfed farming was introduced in
increased by 37.2% between 2001 and 2007. Cultivation of three areas covering 260,734 feddan in Northwest Lagawa
watermelons expanded by 687%, and millet by 80.1%. The (Block 1: Khallis and Umm Guluud, demarcated mechanised
area given over to sorghum fell by 9%. Groundnuts decreased farms; Block 2: Al Nabag and Millais, undemarcated schemes)
by 53%, while the area under hibiscus and sesame production and West Wadi Shalongo. The last area accounts for almost
stayed more or less the same. 82% of the mechanised schemes in the western sector of
Southern Kordofan, with the average scheme size (1,000
As the table shows, watermelons, a recent innovation, have feddan) more than twice that in the other two areas (as shown
emerged as the major cash crop, especially in western areas in Table 9). The introduction of mechanised farming was
such as Meiram, Tibon, Debab and Muqadama, which double described as having significant implications for Misseriyya
as major watermelon-marketing centres, from where the crop pastoralism and its future prospects, as well as for peace and
is exported as far afield as El Obeid and En-Nahud in North stability in the area, because of the attendant reduction in
Kordofan and Kosti in central Sudan. grazing land and fiercer competition over resources. Wadi
Shalongo is an important summer grazing and watering area.
The area cultivated by individual households varies The schemes may block routes to watering points.
considerably, from around five mukhamas2 in Mugaddama
(west of Muglad) to nine mukhamas towards the north, in Most of those who have dropped out of the pastoral sector are
Umm Osh to the west of Babanousa. Some households now engaged in farming. In Meiram, 10–20% of the population
cultivate up to 20 mukhamas depending on the availability of is said to have abandoned pastoralism for agriculture in the
2 One mukhama equals 1.75 feddans (one feddan is 4,200 square metres). last three to five years. Agricultural practices and skills are

Table 8: Cultivated areas (feddan) by main crop and administrative unit, 2001–2007
Admin. Unit Year Millet Durra G nuts Hibiscus Sesame Watermelon Total
Muglad 2001 30,102 31,140 15,570 519 2,076 3,114 82,521
2007 57,807 21,814 30,540 11,998 1,091 14,179 137,429
Meiram 2001 16,715 51,935 51,935 43,279 6,794 2,887 171,545
2007 52,952 37,737 41,185 16,810 2,522 18,491 169,697
Debab 2001 18,684 10,380 16,089 1,038 1,038 208 47,437
2007 36,627 22,539 26,766 2,817 3,944 17,750 110,443
Fula 2001 23,096 8,660 4,330 2,166 257 2,887 41,396
2007 19,692 12,118 10,527 151 340 4,468 47,296
Babanusa 2001 10,034 4,014 26,088 2,007 150 0.0 42,293
2007 62,108 3,415 9,106 3,526 1,366 2,049 81,570
Kigeira 2001 18,443 16,821 20,826 483 161 0.0 56,734
2007 26,095 13,048 17,941 0.0 2,238 5,708 65,030
Keilak 2001 13,200 21,323 10,512 1,620 2,123 443 49,221
2007 4,601 7,428 775 0.0 1,211 5,086 19,101
Tibon 2001 38,698 8,413 19,630 3,925 207 2,244 73117
2007 40,974 20,487 39,835 17,072 0.0 25,039 143,407
Total 2001 166,972 152,686 164,980 55,037 12,806 11,783 564,264
2007 300,856 138,586 76,675 52,374 12,712 92,770 773,973
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Western Sector, Annual Agricultural Survey, 2001 and 2007, Fula.

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rudimentary and people lack the knowledge and technology to the Misseriyya in May 2008. Clashes in es-Sunut in 2007 also
make farming more productive. Agricultural labour is provided pushed Nuba away.
by a combination of family and hired labour.
Labour is paid per mukhama as follows:
4.2.2 Off-farm activities
The Misseriyya pastoral economy has traditionally been Land preparation SDG 40 ($20)
supported by numerous off-farm activities. The most Seeding SDG 50
important are discussed below. Weeding SDG 25
Food SDG 20
Hired livestock labour Harvesting SDG 100
This activity traditionally involved a considerable number of
people, especially youth from poor families, who were hired No substantial change in the price of hired labour has been
by rich livestock owners. Beginning in the early 1990s, reported over the last decade.
however, the role of hired livestock labour in the household
economy declined significantly as young people were Forestry, fishing and wild-game hunting
recruited into the Popular Defence Force (PDF) militia, a Forestry, fishing and hunting constitute an integral part of the
paramilitary group created during the war against the SPLA. Misseriyya economy, both as a source of subsistence and for
Today, insecurity along the border with the South limits the cash income. Activities include collecting and selling wild fruit
number of Misseriyya youth willing to work as hired herders. (Balanites aegyptiaca, Ziziphus Spinachristi and Papaya),
Hamar youth from En-Nahud are said to have started filling honey, gum Arabic, firewood and charcoal. According to
this gap, but lack cattle-herding skills and are only entrusted Ministry of Agriculture estimates in 2001, forestry activities
with the care of sheep. Payment is usually in kind, a process accounted for approximately 10% of household income. The
which traditionally enabled recipients to build up their own trade in charcoal and firewood is flourishing, and large
herds. Payment is generally made at the end of the year and amounts of charcoal were observed at the side of roads
is calculated according to the size of the herd attended. throughout the study area. Whilst charcoal-making is a
Looking after a herd of 50 sheep would provide payment of subsistence activity for many impoverished households, the
five females between six and 12 months old; a herd of 60–80 larger-scale trade (with charcoal being sold to merchants for
cattle would provide payment of one female cow aged one the Khartoum market) is in the hands of the army and other
year. security forces. The depletion of forest resources is
particularly evident near army outposts. People report that
Hired agricultural labour security personnel justify tree-cutting on the grounds that the
Farm labour was traditionally provided by Dinka men in the areas affected have been earmarked for oil extraction. Youth
western part of the state (Muglad area) and by Nuba in groups in Muglad said that they had reported the destruction
eastern parts (Keilak and Lagawa). The number of Dinka, Nuer to the Forestry Department, but to no avail.
and Nuba labourers has declined considerably following the
signing of the CPA, and more Misseriyya now work as hired A substantial number of Misseriyya fish, especially around
agricultural labour. The gap left by Dinka and Nuba labourers Lake Keilak, from where fish are exported to the main market
has not however been filled, and the size of plots has declined, centres in Muglad and El Fula. Historically, fish have been used
from ten to three mukhamas on average, leading to a by pastoralists as a major additional source of food along the
consequent fall in annual yields. The Misseriyya see the Bahr al-Arab/Kiir River during the dry-season stay. Hunting
refusal of the Dinka, Nuer and Nuba to continue to work on has also provided an important additional source of food,
their farms as politically motivated. Whilst this is certainly especially in the southern parts of Bahr al-Arab where wild
true, it is also true that many Dinka and Nuer labourers game was more abundant. Population increase, the spread of
returned south because they did not feel safe in Dar small arms, environmental degradation and over-hunting have
Misseriyya, especially since the clashes between the SPLA and however significantly reduced the number and diversity of

Table 9: Distribution of mechanised farming in the western sector of South Kordofan State
Area No. schemes No. owners Total area (feddan) Average scheme size (feddan)
Northwest Lagawa Block 1 37 37 13,740 371.4
Northwest Lagawa Block 2 76 76 32,740 431.0
West Wadi Shalango 225 225 214,000 1,000.0
Total/average 338 338 260,734 771.0
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Western Sector, S Kordofan State, 2008.

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wild animals. Restrictions on access to areas south of the Kiir in telecommunications and satellite systems have drastically
River have also limited hunting. improved links between rural communities and the wider
world.
Petty trade
The Misseriyya engage in a wide range of petty trade, selling Whilst movement to local urban centres has increased,
locally produced grains, forestry products, animals, animal migration abroad appears to have haven fall off substantially in
products and handicrafts, as well as imported manufactured the last decade. During the 1980s and early 1990s migration to
goods. Most sellers are young people who have dropped out of Saudi Arabia and Libya in particular was common among the
the pastoral sector. Food selling and other petty trade, Misseriyya, who mostly found work as camel-herders in these
traditionally stigmatised in Misseriyya society, have become countries. Consultations with communities indicated that, in the
important activities, and are increasingly taken up by Misseriyya 1990s, membership of the PDF provided a viable economic
women. alternative for the majority of such migrants, and migratory
flows declined as a result. The end of the war has however
Weekly rural markets still provide valuable opportunities for curtailed this critical source of income for the Misseriyya.
exchange and small business, but the best trade
opportunities are found in the new markets along oil roads. The war economy
A typical example is Al Kharasana market, on the road The war economy constituted an important part of the
between Keilak and Heglig. This area was originally a dry- Misseriyya livelihood system for nearly two decades. Although
season pasture for the Fallaita and Misseriyya Zurug, who it is difficult to assess the number of Misseriyya youth in the
depended on water collected in nearby hafirs. As the hafirs PDF and the economic gains they attained thereby, throughout
silted up, however, the nomads moved their makhrafs to Abu the fieldwork it was stressed that the great majority of youth
Allikri and Alliwi. Al Kharasana started to develop as a were involved in the PDF and were highly paid. PDF militias
market in 1997, with the first stirrings of the oil industry, and were also involved in a wide range of legal and illegal trade,
by 2007 the population had mushroomed to 15,000, mostly including a flourishing trade in weapons, smuggling and
former pastoralists. Other groups include the Fur, Zaghawa, looting of animals and goods.
Jallaba and Nuba. The Nuer left the area after clashes with
armed Misseriyya in April 2008. Some 1,100 shops and trade The signing of the CPA cut short the war economy. The PDF has
licences are registered in the locality. Wealthy traders come been formally dismantled, although militiamen have not been
from Khartoum and Gezira in Central Sudan. The livestock disarmed or helped to re-enter civilian life. As a result, many
market provides valuable opportunities for Misseriyya, who are now resorting to crime. The lack of employment
work either as middlemen or small traders. Trade in wood, opportunities in the oil sector has added to the frustration
the most profitable commodity in the market, is controlled among this group, and is at the heart of the insecurity
by Jallaba, while the clothing market is dominated by Fur and affecting the region (see below).
Zaghawa.
4.3 The oil industry
Price differences between goods in rural and urban markets
reflect distorted trade links and marketing systems. One Extensive petroleum exploration began in Sudan in the mid-
example is livestock marketing. During the fieldwork, in 1970s, but it was not until October 2000 that commercial
September 2008, the sale price of a male sheep around 20kg quantities of oil began to be exported. Today, oil is the single
in weight in Momo market was SDG70 ($35), while a similar most important export industry in Sudan. Available data
animal was said to fetch SDG120 ($60) in El Fula and SDG300 suggests that oil accounts for more than 90% of Sudan’s total
($150) in Khartoum. exports, with the primary importers being Japan, China, South
Korea, Indonesia and India. Between 2001 and 2005, oil
Urban migration exports grew at an average annual rate of 32%. Exports of
Links between rural and urban areas are an integral part of the other commodities grew on average by only 18.6%.
Misseriyya economy. The large number of rural markets and
the increasing mobility of people between these markets have Most of Sudan’s oil fields and known reserves are located in
created strong trade links between rural and urban areas. The the Muglad and Melut rift basins. Commercial reserves were
concentration of services, especially health, education and estimated at 3 billion barrels in December 2006 (Table 10).
governmental services, in the main urban centres of Muglad, Oil fields are linked to the country’s refineries via pipelines.
Babanusa, El Fula and Debab has made these centres magnets The largest pipeline belongs to the GNPOC (referred to by
for migration from rural areas. This mobility has been the Misseriyya as ‘giumbok’, from the Arabic reading of the
enhanced by improvements in the road system made by the oil acronym). It runs across the Misseriyya area from Heglig to
industry. Although people complain bitterly about the poor Port Sudan. The pipeline was opened in 1999 and is
quality of the roads, there are now, for the first time, daily operated by the China National Petroleum Corporation
buses linking Muglad and El Fula to Khartoum. Developments (CNPC), which has a 40% stake in the GNPOC. The other two

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Figure 2: Oil fields in Sudan and main pipelines

Blocks Oil and gas concession holders Egypt

1 (Unity) Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company
2 (Heglig) Talisman Energy Inc. (Canada)
3 (Adar) Gulf Petroleum Corporation (Qatar)
4 (Kailkang) Petronas Carigali (Malaysia), Sudapet (Sudan) and
RED SEA
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
5a Lundin Oil AB International Petroleum Corporation River Nile
(IPC) (Sweden) Petronas Carili (Malaysia) OMV
Port Sudan
Sudan Exploration GmbH (Austria) and Sudapet (Sudan)
5 (Central) TotalElFina (France) Sinkat
6 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
7 (Mellut) Sudapet (Sudan) and China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC)

Chad NORTHERN RIVER

NORTHERN
DARFUR NILE

KHARTOUM KASSALA
Khartoum Eritrea
NORTHERN
KORDOFAN
Al Fasher GAZIRA
WHITE
NILE GEDAREF

WESTERN WESTERN El Obeid

SINNAR
DARFUR Ed Daein KORDOFAN

SOUTHERN SOUTHERN
DARFUR KORDOFAN
6 7
Nuba BLUE
HEGLIG Mountains NILE
Blue Nile
2
4 1 3 ADAR/YALE
UNITY
Akon Malakai UPPER
Bentiu Nimne Nasir
Raga Aweil UNITY NILE Ethiopia
NORTHERN 5a
WARAB
B.A.G
5b
WESTERN BAHR Wau JONGLEI
Central African AL GHAZAL
Panyagor Pibor
Yirol
Republic Rumbek 5 (central)
LAKES
Bor
WESTERN
EQUATORIA Lui Lafon EASTERN
Juba EQUATORIA
Yambio
Toet Kapoeta
BAHR AL Lokichoggio
Yei
Democratic Republic
of Congo
JEBEL

Kenya

Oil pipeline Area controlled by opposition groups

Oil field
Historic North–South boundary Southern city controlled by the government of Sudan
Licensed Controlled by the SPLMA
Open Sites visited

Base of Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) Source: USAID/OFDA, 2001,http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADG170.pdf.

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Table 10: Estimated commercial reserves as at 31 December 2006, in thousands of barrels

Total Remaining
Blocks 1, 2 & 4 (GNPOC) 1,686,000 983,000
Blocks 3 & 7 (PDOC) 803,000 779,000
Block 5A (WNPOC-1) 175,000 168,000
Block 6 (CNPC/S) 331.000 299,000
Total 2,995,000 2,229,000
Source: ECOS, 2007

lines are the Petrodar pipeline, which extends 1,380km from companies had publicly admitted that the water in these areas
the Palogue oil field in the Melut Basin to Port Sudan, and was not good for animals. A local, unauthorised study
the El Fula pipeline (428km), which connects the El Fula oil conducted in 2008 listed 21 negative impacts of oil on the
fields in Dar Misseriyya (Block 6) to the refinery in environment, livestock and human population in the area,
Khartoum. including signs of boreholes drying up, water becoming toxic
and malodorous (e.g. in Defra, Firdos and Abu Gabra, as
The Muglad Basin is located in the heart of the Misseriyya area reported during the study), large-scale deforestation,
and covers approximately 120,000km2. It contains a number of contamination of pastures and soil, the dispersal of nafta, a
hydrocarbon accumulations, the largest of which are the by-product of the oil industry which is toxic to humans and
Heglig and El Fula oil fields. The first discoveries were made by animals, the emergence of complex and previously unknown
Chevron near Muglad town in the 1960s and 1970s. After diseases among livestock and increased conflict between
Chevron suspended its activities in the mid-1980s, oil pastoralists and farmers due to reduced access to land.
exploration in the Muglad Basin was halted until February
2008. Like other communities affected by oil exploration, People are also angry about the impact of the roads built by the
there is profound, pervasive unhappiness in Dar Misseriyya oil companies, alleging that water accumulates on roadsides
about the impact of the industry on the local economy, and the because of poor drainage, creating swampy areas. They say that
marginal benefits received from oil extraction, both in terms of oil is having a deleterious effect far outside the actual
labour opportunities and development inputs. Oil extraction concessions, with the alteration of the drainage system caused
has generated competition and disputes over land, and has by oil drilling and road construction drying up even Lake Keilak.
contributed to large-scale deforestation. In the hope of Depressions such as Abu Kadma and Danbaloiya, used as
receiving compensation from the oil companies (so far paid seasonal water sources, are also said to be endangered.
largely on an individual basis), a number of people around El
Fula have started to cut down vast tracts of forest and fence Communities feel that they have not been adequately
the empty areas with zaribat hawa (literally, ‘air fences’, compensated for the damage the oil sector has inflicted on
fenced off enclosures usually created by settled farmers on their economy. A common complaint is that the few boreholes
grazing land either as new farm plots or as a reserve pasture drilled by the oil companies amount to ‘peanuts’.
for their animals or for the sale of the grasses). This has Compensation is seen as paltry and wholly incommensurate
destroyed grazing resources and led to tensions with with the resources extracted and the environmental damage
pastoralists. done. The few awards that have been made are said to have
more to do with patronage than any genuine effort to redress
Pastoralists believe that the oil industry has contaminated grievances. Misseriyya youth say they have not been given the
water supplies and pastures, and say that their cattle are educational opportunities and technical training that would
suffering as a result, especially as regards fertility. Their anger give them access (in theory) to jobs in the oil sector. This is
is palpable. So far, the authorities have refused to allow one of the most important grievances, as will be discussed in
studies to determine the environmental impact of the oil the next chapter.
industry, despite repeated requests by local people.
Spontaneous efforts by local government technical 4.4 Services
departments to analyse the environmental impact of oil
extraction have been immediately and robustly halted. Despite some recent investment in service infrastructure by oil
Despite the absence of hard data, locals are convinced that oil companies and government departments, access to services
companies have destroyed rangeland, and that most cattle remains extremely limited in Dar Misseriyya, especially in rural
losses experienced in the last few years are due to oil areas.
pollution. Polluted water is said to have become a threat to
animal health in Heglig, Defra and Sitaib, with livestock Health facilities in the five Administrative Units of Abyei
numbers decreasing steadily since drilling began. Community mahallia are limited to a single hospital in Muglad, with
leaders in Muglad stated that representatives of the oil limited capacity and a lack of trained personnel. A second, in

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Debab, is still in the planning stage. Most Primary Health mobile schools or the establishment of schools in key
Centres (PHCs) are not functioning or, if they are, have no locations along transhumance routes, with a special school
drugs. There are no doctors at all in Sitaib Administrative Unit. calendar to suit pastoral movement.
At 98 deaths per 1,000 live births, rates of infant and maternal
mortality are far higher in Southern Kordofan than in The greatest number of complaints concerned the absence
neighbouring Northern Kordofan (and Sudan as a whole) – see of sufficient and sustainable water development in the
Table 11. Mortality among under-fives is estimated at region. Many of the wells drilled by the oil companies to
142/1,000. In Muglad, where soldiers, militiamen and traders compensate for the damage allegedly caused by their
come into contact with a large number of commercial sex activities are reported to have a short operational life. At the
workers, people fear what they say is the growing incidence of most basic level, boreholes are being built to the wrong
HIV/AIDS. Neither testing nor treatment is available. specifications. Compounding the problem, the community
development projects implemented by oil companies are
In towns such as Debab, greater investment in school facilities seldom coordinated with the technical departments of the
is apparent and the number of children enrolled, including ministries in El Fula. As a result, bore holes and other
girls, has been steadily increasing. But very few permanent services are not maintained and quickly collapse. The
buildings were observed outside the main centres (Muglad, potential for water harvesting (micro-catchment dams), a
Debab, Keilak, Meiram and Sitaib) and, even where they were more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution than
evident, problems were reported with high fees and boreholes and hafirs, is grossly underexplored. A full list of
inadequate nutrition. Outside the towns, education services water yards in the five Administrative Units is presented in
are very limited and illiteracy rates high, especially among Annex 2.
pastoralists (66%). Enrolment levels are low, and most
nomadic children are de facto denied access to education. The lack of animal health services was another source of
This is becoming increasingly problematic as pastoralist significant frustration. This includes vaccination services,
communities develop a strong new interest in education, which are said to be unreliable, veterinary clinics and drugs.
aware that they have no alternative but to prepare their Clinics are particularly important to fight the diseases
children for new livelihoods. While wealthier pastoralists have allegedly generated by the contamination of water and
started to invest in their children’s future, paying for the pasture. In Sitaib, for instance, no vaccination campaign has
brightest to be schooled away from home in urban centres, been conducted for the last two years because of insecurity
middle-income and poor pastoralists cannot afford the loss of (last year the campaign was halted because the ministry
labour within the household. Many children enter school late, vehicle was attacked), and no livestock vaccines are available
around the age of eight or nine, when they are considered old in the market. This also has an impact on trade, as uncertified
enough to walk the long distances from nomadic camps to livestock cannot be sold.
towns or villages, and drop out after a few years when they fail
to catch up with their peers. The closure of boarding schools The lack of services has a particularly severe impact on
for nomadic children in the late 1970s is blamed for creating women, especially nomadic women, whose lives are
two generations of illiterate youth. The piloting of nomadic especially hard. In towns, women have better access to water,
schools by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education has had firewood and grinding mills, and many have become engaged
limited success because of a lack of teachers and teaching in petty trade to complement household income. Illiteracy
materials. People believe that more could be done to make rates among women are extremely high both in rural and
mobile schooling more viable, but the overwhelming urban areas (76%) despite the increasing enrolment of girls in
preference is for the reopening of boarding facilities in key urban centres. Women comment that greater access to
locations. The two are not mutually exclusive: primary education for girls has already had a positive impact by
education could be provided through a greater number of helping to reduce the incidence of early marriage. The lack of

Table 11: Health and education indicators for South Kordofan and North Kordofan, 2008
Infant mortality Under-5 Post-natal Fully immunised Net intake rate Secondary
rate/’000 mortality mortality/ children (%) in basic school net
/’000 ‘000 education (%) attendance rate
(%)
N. Kordofan 61 88 22 39.4 35.3 18.3
S. Kordofan 98 147 50 37.3 25.9 8.0
Sudan 81 112 40 41.4 29.5 18.9
Source: Ministry of Social Welfare (2008), Sudan House Hold Survey, Draft Report.

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boarding facilities in Muglad prevents girls from progressing up or expand their businesses. In rural areas, nomadic women
to secondary education. emphasised the critical importance of increasing access to all
basic services, particularly health and water. In both rural and
Women in urban centres and small towns expressed a strong urban centres a high incidence of female-headed households
desire to improve their skills in agriculture and other income- was reported, as many women had lost their husbands during
generating activities, to have access to adult literacy ‘so that the war. Many stressed that they felt threatened by increasing
we can write our names’, and to be supported with credit to set insecurity in the region, and feared a return to war.

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Chapter 5
Peace and development in Dar Misseriyya:
perceptions and perspectives
5.1 Evolving tensions in the Western Sector: current Shahama was founded by Musa Ali Mohamedain, a Misseriyya
dynamics and a member of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Hassan
al-Turabi. The government claims that Shahama is part of a
The crisis experienced by the Misseriyya livelihood system is strategy of destabilisation, and has from the outset accused
driving new political developments which are increasing the Darfur rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
tensions in the area. It is essential that any programming of being behind it. After Musa Ali’s death in November 2004,
aimed at supporting Misseriyya and other groups is informed his younger brother, Mohammed Bahr Ali Hamadain, took over
by a nuanced understanding of the political environment. the leadership, and soon after was named head of JEM’s
Kordofan ‘sector’ and deputy to JEM Chairman Dr. Khalil
The area is currently in political turmoil. The Misseriyya Ibrahim. Hamadain was arrested and sentenced to death in
perceive themselves as the victims of both war and peace. May 2008, following the JEM’s attack on Omdurman, although
Their recruitment into the PDF during the war, as the backbone it is thought that the government will not carry out the
of the force, is widely seen to have eroded their historical sentence to avoid a backlash in Dar Misseriyya. Most
relationship with the Dinka, while increasing militarisation Shahama activists followed Hamadain in joining the JEM.
among their youth. The CPA is said to have increased Many, reportedly including Hamadain himself, were however
insecurity and unemployment by depriving people of access to soon disappointed by what they saw as a lack of genuine
key resources in the South (pasture, water and the war concern by the JEM for the Misseriyya.
economy) without any concomitant political gain. Among
youth, the government’s dismantling of the PDF without any There are no clear boundaries between Shahama and other
compensation is seen as an act of betrayal, leaving former militarised groups. Most of its adherents are said to belong to
members unable to provide for their families. People see the Awlad Kamil Darin Sheba Zarqa wa Hamra, one of the most
access to employment in the oil sector as a right, and are militant groups in Dar Misseriyya. During the civil war they
angered by the lack of labour and economic opportunities in were the backbone of the PDF. Almost all are said to be
the sector. illiterate. A number of Misseriyya leaders are thought to want
to isolate Shahama for fear of seeing Dar Misseriyya become
The Misseriyya are also suffering a leadership crisis. There is a ‘second Darfur’. At the local level, however, Shahama
palpable mistrust both of traditional leaders and Misseriyya remains both strong and popular.
political leaders. Misseriyya society appears to be highly
fragmented and people are uncertain about their future. There 5.2.2 The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)
is an overwhelming feeling of helplessness across most From its inception JEM has had a presence outside Darfur, in
sectors of society, and a widespread perception that only a Kordofan, East Sudan, Gezira and Blue Nile. The JEM has been
return to armed confrontation will improve their lot. A common active in Dar Misseriyya since 2005, with a strong presence in
refrain is: ‘Without the gun, we will not be taken seriously’. the weekly markets along the border with South Darfur. In
Signs of insecurity and instability are apparent across the December 2006, the group (under the name National
region. If the Misseriyya predicament is not seriously and Redemption Front) attacked the Abu Jabra oilfield on the
energetically addressed, the possibility of another ‘Darfur-like’ Darfur–Kordofan border, assisted by local Misseriyya with
descent into violence cannot be discounted. knowledge of the area. The following August, the group
attacked a police barracks in Wad Banda, killing 41 people. In
5.2 Main actors September 2007, armed men attacked three Ministry of
Agriculture vehicles south of Muglad, instructing their
5.2.1 The Shahama passengers to convey the message that their group was
The Shahama movement – Shahama means ‘valiant’ in Arabic affiliated to the JEM. In October 2007, the Chinese-run Hajlil
– emerged in 2004. It is largely comprised of young people, oilfield in the Defra concession was targeted in what
including from nomadic communities. The Islamist-oriented Hamadain called ‘a message to the Chinese companies in
group appears to have a substantial following, despite claims particular’. Another Chinese-run oilfield was attacked in
by former West Kordofan Governor Salman Suleiman Safi in December 2007.
October 2005 that it was ‘isolated and has no support in the
population of Kordofan’, with bases initially only in Bahr el Although recruitment among Misseriyya has been significant,
Ghazal. the JEM’s presence in Kordofan has divided the Misseriyya.

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Following the attack on the police barracks in August 2007, the Some observers explain the movement towards the SPLA as a
Misseriyya Union condemned the action as ‘barbaric’, tactic by the Misseriyya to strengthen their position, rather
demanded that JEM confine its war to Darfur and called on all than as a principled commitment to the group. The prime
Misseriyya to oppose it. In November 2007, a new group calling interest of the Misseriyya is to preserve their cattle wealth and
itself the ‘Army of the Revolutionary Movement for the Restor- access to critical resources, and to this end alliances are
ation of Justice in South Kordofan’, headed by a Misseriyya reportedly being used strategically.
government supporter, Abdu Adam Al Ansari, said that rebellion
in Darfur had caused huge destruction, and warned the JEM 5.2.5 Shamam
against conducting military activities in Kordofan. The group said The Shamam movement originated in El Fula, the former capital
that it was ready to confront any aggression against Kordofan ‘in of West Kordofan before it was merged with South Kordofan. It
collaboration with other national forces’. largely comprises opposition party members (Umma, PPC,
Baath, Communists, etc.) and intellectuals and seeks a peaceful
5.2.3 Non-aligned ex-PDF fighters resolution of the issues at stake. The movement is seen as
An unquantifiable (but reportedly high) number of former PDF elitist, and is thought to have links with Turabi’s PCP.
fighters are becoming increasingly organised. This group is
armed and fiercely critical of the government for ‘exploiting 5.2.6 The Native Administration
Misseriyya youth during the war’ and leaving them without com- The Native Administration is criticised by all parties for being
pensation or alternative livelihoods in its aftermath. They have a excessively politicised and no longer reflecting tribal structures
number of key grievances, chief among them the government’s and interests. Native administrators are today seen as govern-
refusal to acknowledge membership of the PDF as meeting the ment officials who are more accountable to the government than
requirement for military service. Without a military service the people. Mostly based in towns, including Khartoum, they are
certificate it is impossible to access jobs, and oil companies criticised for ‘not being with their people’ and failing to represent
exploit this loophole to justify their refusal to employ local youth their interests – in particular the interests of nomads. Youth
in any significant numbers. PDF veterans were promised representatives in Muglad accused the Native Administration of
involvement in the disarmament and demobilisation programme looking down on them and referring to them in disparaging
in March 2007, but so far have not been included. A well-trained terms. They believed that the Native Administration did not
group, veterans have claimed responsibility for attacks on roads represent the views of the tribe, but felt that it could have an
from Muglad and El Meiram to Debab. In September 2008 they important role to play if it were neutral and apolitical. Young
gave an ultimatum to the government to start acting on their people felt that the role of the Native Administration should be
requests by 15 October 2008, after which they would resume enhanced and administrators given a greater say in social and
attacks on the road, with a special focus on oil companies. In an tribal matters. To ensure impartiality, all interviewees felt that
incident on 17 October 2008 nine oil workers were kidnapped, administrators should be selected by communities
five of whom died in a botched rescue attempt. Although the democratically, rather than, as at present, being appointed by
government blamed the JEM for the attack, locals believe that the government.
the operation was carried out by ex-PDF fighters based in Debab.
Local youth are also angry with educated Misseriyya, whom
5.2.4 The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) they accuse of failing to respond to the plight of their people.
Attracted by the prospect of regular salaries, a number of ex- Misseriyya intellectuals have benefited from education,
PDF fighters have joined the SPLA, including several young usually in boarding schools, but have not reinvested in their
officers, some of them from wealthy backgrounds, as well as communities, even to the extent of lobbying for their interests
the impoverished rank and file. According to some reports, in Khartoum.
around 13,000 Misseriyya fighters joined the SPLA in 2006,
with a further 10,000 joining from the Debab camp. It is 5.2.7 ‘Youth’
believed that the SPLA sought to recruit Misseriyya and ‘Youth Mechanism for Development and Follow Up’ (‘Youth’)
Rizeigat militia as a fifth column or advance guard in the event emerged in 2008. It claims to comprise educated Misseriyya
of a resumption of hostilities with the National Congress Party youth, including lawyers, government officials and business-
(NCP). The SPLA used Debab as a recruiting station, aiming for people. In late 2007 its leaders presented a list of 52 demands to
one battalion (600–800 men). Thousands turned up, chiefly President Bashir, focusing on the lack of services and employ-
because of the $150 a month pay on offer. The NCP argued that ment opportunities. Bashir pledged support and reportedly set
the recruitment was a violation of the CPA and sent an army up a body to follow up requests, chaired by the head of the
unit to confront the SPLA, which eventually backed down. In Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) in Khartoum. With very few
September 2007, around 1,500 prospective recruits were of their demands met, however, the rank and file of ‘Youth’ felt
accepted and moved to the Pariang area, just south of the that their leaders had capitulated to the government and were
North–South border. Led by a former PDF commander from the rethinking their stance. Mistrust of the government, described by
Misseriyya Humr, Hassan Hamid, they were told that they one supporter as a ‘vulture which comes to you only when it sees
would be trained and integrated into the SPLA. carcasses’, is widespread, and most believe that ‘the gun is the

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only choice’. Many are ready to take up arms, arguing that they Commission (ABC) identified areas like Meiram, Heglig and
have tried to solve their problems peacefully and now have no Keilak as Dinka Ngok areas. As part of the Road Map, the parties
option but to seek a ‘Darfur-like solution’. ‘Youth’ militants are have referred the dispute on the Abyei boundaries to the
seeking alliances both with the SPLA and the JEM. There is a Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. There is concern
widespread feeling that ‘Youth’ would win the backing of PDF among the Misseriyya that the court may uphold the findings of
veterans and nomads if its members turned to armed the ABC and rule in favour of the Dinka Ngok. The Road Map also
confrontation. The perception is that political parties and tribal envisaged the establishment of an administration in Abyei,
leaders could not afford to oppose a popular groundswell and which was finally appointed in September 2008. The agreement
would be compelled to support the actions of a group that reached is seen as favouring the Dinka, and is described by
enjoys more legitimacy than the illiterate militiamen of the old Misseriyya leaders in the area as ‘mara wahda’ (‘only one wife’,
PDF. considered inadequate in a polygamous society).

5.2.8 The government/National Congress Party As the Misseriyya see it, the CPA strengthened the Dinka and
Resentment against the government is so widespread that it is the Road Map gave them a government which speaks on their
common to hear even children chanting anti-government behalf. Although the CPA guarantees the right of the
slogans. There is a general collapse of governance, with the Misseriyya to access pastureland south of the Bahr al-Arab, in
government unable or unwilling to ensure security. In protest, the last two years they have had to pay heavy taxes to access
the Misseriyya have refused to pay livestock taxes since 2005 the South. In 2008, most Misseriyya cattle stayed north of the
and the government has been unable to force them to do so. Bahr al-Arab, where they suffered from a shortage of water
In October 2008, the civil service went on strike because their and grazing. The extension of the Dinka Ngok area as
salaries were not being paid. There is a widespread perception determined by the ABC has meant that it is not just
that corruption is rife. People believe that the state Minister of transhumance to Abyei along the Central murhal which is
Finance, who was dismissed in September 2008, lost his job threatened, but also access to natural resources along the
because he was trying to bring some transparency to state murals south of Meiram and Keilak.
accounts. Allegations of corruption have also undermined the
Western Kordofan Development Authority. This body, created Although large livestock owners have managed to access the
in the wake of the CPA, is based in Khartoum and has no river in recent years by paying taxes to SPLA troops, having to
presence or impact on the ground. There is no clarity about its pay taxes to the SPLA (or GOSS, the boundary between the
annual budget, income or expenditure. two being unclear in the fields of Abyei) is an issue of
contention among the Misseriyya. Misseriyya pay SPLA
The failure to honour the wealth-sharing stipulations in the soldiers one to two calves per herd, depending on
CPA has become a major source of discontent and frustration, negotiation and acceptance of the offer by the soldiers. In
and Misseriyya communities are demanding the 2% share in 2007, Misseriyya crossing Bahr al-Arab through Unity state
oil revenues that should be allocated to Southern Kordofan reported paying the SPLA SDG 15,000. The Fallaita already
State. According to the 2007 wealth-sharing report, Southern pay taxes to the government of Southern Kordofan State in El
Kordofan State’s share for January–April 2007 was $5.39 Fula. The Ajayra have been refusing to pay taxes because of
million. Very little of this appears to have been spent on the lack of services. Neither group wants to incur double
initiatives to improve the livelihoods of the Misseriyya (or taxation by paying taxes to GOSS, but livestock owners are
other groups in the state, for that matter). The Misseriyya also resigned to offering some payment in the interim in order to
hold the government responsible for the Abyei Protocol and be able to access the river while a more acceptable solution
the Abyei Border Commission (ABC) report, which they see as is found.
threatening their way of life.
Traditional mechanisms for conflict resolution can no longer
5.3 The CPA, the ABC and the Road Map be relied upon in negotiating with the Dinka for access to the
South. With the Native Administration so politicised, the old
Thanks to the CPA and the Abyei Protocol the Misseriyya feel ways would now require the involvement of senior NCP and
strongly that resources south of Bahr al-Arab have become GOSS representatives. The Native Administration would not
inaccessible. The Abyei Road Map, negotiated and agreed by the be accepted as a credible mediator.
SPLM and the NCP after the fighting in Abyei in May 2008, is seen
as unsatisfactory, although it is recognised as a step forward 5.4 Relations with neighbours
compared to the Protocol. There is a widespread perception
amongst Misseriyya communities that war will come, though Relations appear to be strained between the Fayarin Awlad
they are not sure whether it will be against the NCP or against the Jibril sub-tribe and the Rizeygat on the Southern
South. There were complaints that the Road Map was only Kordofan/South Darfur border. Fighting in August 2008 over
agreed by the SPLM to appease the internal tribal tensions with access to water resources resulted in casualties on both sides.
the Dinka Malwal and Twic that flared up after the Abyei Border Despite agreeing the payment of diya (blood money) at a

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reconciliation conference (with the Fayarin paying SDG There is deep concern about the easy availability of weapons
1,348,500 and the Rizeygat SDG 772,450), it was reported that (beyond those carried to protect livestock). The study team
‘the Hakkamat are still walking barefoot in the markets’3. found weapons on wide display among communities in the
There is a feeling of deep insecurity throughout the area. The Siteib Administrative Unit, especially in areas bordering Darfur
Fayarin cannot move south until they have paid all four and in market towns like Sammoa. In one location near
instalments of the diya, but they are finding this difficult: Meiram, the team was advised by the Amir not to return to the
traditionally, the whole tribe would contribute, but hardship area because of security risks. Tellingly, the Amir is an NCP
has eroded tribal solidarity. official who is sponsoring what appears to be a local rebellion.

Relations with the Nuba to the east are equally strained, with Links with the rebellion in Darfur are increasingly evident, and in
sporadic clashes between the Misseriyya Zuruq and the Abu several quarters considered desirable. One traditional leader
Junuk Nuba in the Lagawa area. To the south, relations are (officially affiliated to the NCP) went as far as to criticise Darfur
difficult with most of the neighbouring tribes, though rebels for failing to seek an alliance with Kordofani opposition
interaction with the Nuer and the Dinka Malwal is said to be movements from the outset. Given this background, together
less confrontational than with the Dinka Ngok. with the JEM’s activism and the deep and widespread
grievances among the Misseriyya, it is critical that all possible
3 The Hakkamat are female singers in Darfur and Kordofan whose role is to
incite their menfolk through their poems and songs during times of conflict. efforts are made to prevent another escalation of violence,
Walking barefoot is a sign that they are still demanding revenge for the tribe. which could deal a death blow to the CPA.

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Chapter 6
Interventions for stability and development:
harnessing opportunities for change
6.1 The drive towards sedentarisation essential to put in place, now, a number of interventions to
address their immediate concerns and sustain a process of
There is an overwhelming desire among Misseriyya pastoral diversification in the medium to long term.
communities to be able to cross the Bahr al-Arab. Settlement is
seen as a far less attractive option. Pastoralists say that they 6.2 Supporting stability and development:
would be unable to sustain their livestock holdings through programming opportunities and priorities
settlement without water sources, dry fodder, abattoirs,
livestock markets and roads to enable the regular buying and A number of interventions could be promoted in the region
selling of animals. They believe that the investments needed are to help address the crisis in Misseriyya livelihoods and
unrealistic, at the least in the medium term, and as a result are lessen the likelihood of conflict. Communities expect the
hoping for reconciliation. This is the priority for many pastoralist central and state government as well as the oil companies to
communities and is an area in which they expect support from take a lead in implementing the interventions discussed
the international community. While Misseriyya pastoralists below. Urgent action is needed to provide assistance on the
continue to consider their mobility of paramount importance, scale required to help restore confidence in the peace
some of their leaders stress the importance of settlement. It is process, both in Dar Misseriyya and in Abyei. Interventions
important to note that such statements seem to prevail among should focus on pastoralist livelihoods and on alternative
leaders who are furthest removed from the grassroots. strategies for those who have abandoned the livestock
economy, risk dropping out of the sector or willingly pursue
The characteristics of the ecosystem in which the Misseriyya alternative livelihood strategies. A number of interventions
live would not make settlement feasible or sustainable are suggested below.
without substantial investment in the medium to long term.
The northern part of the area is semi-arid and unsuitable for 6.2.1 Immediate term
ranching or localised grazing; areas further south are part of a 1. Encourage grassroots reconciliation and local-level
shared-rights zone and any settlement would be contested. discussion around natural resources. As already recom-
Partial settlement in the drylands could be considered if there mended by a stability and development study in the Three
was meaningful investment in water resources, fodder Areas in 2008 (Vaux, Pantuliano and Snirivasan, 2008), every
production to complement natural pasture and a significant effort should be made to defuse the situation in Dar
reduction in the number of cattle held. But herd maximisation Misseriyya and Abyei through local-level dialogue with
is a risk insurance strategy against epidemics and droughts, influential leaders. The southern zone rangelands are
and a reduction of stock numbers would leave the Misseriyya indispensible to the Misseriyya pastoralists, and will be so
livelihood system extremely vulnerable to external shocks. for the foreseeable future. It is therefore crucial to act quickly
Furthermore, cattle are a source of status as well as wealth to facilitate access to these areas. Access can only be agreed
among the Misseriyya, and accelerated off-take would not be as part of a process of reconciliation between the Misseriyya
culturally acceptable in most communities. Sedentarisation and relevant Dinka and Nuer groups. Possible initiatives
would also entail a shift from a livelihood system based on include:
communal grazing to livestock raising on privately owned
areas. This would require intensive investment in creating the • Build on the UNDP-brokered ‘people to people process’
necessary capacity to manage and enhance the carrying of the early 2000s.4
capacity of the land. • Help facilitate discussions focused on rights of use and
passage (rather than ownership of the land) using local
Experience from other dryland areas in Africa shows that knowledge and calling on Sudanese experts on
settlement strategies are only successful if they are developed pastoralist matters, of whom there are many.
as part of a long-term process involving a gradual shift away • Facilitate cross-site community visits, involving women
from a cattle-based economy and lifestyle brought about by and youth representatives.
education and the development of other livelihoods
opportunities for succeeding generations. But time is a luxury 4 Local Misseriyya and Dinka Ngok leaders in Abyei negotiated the Abu
the Misseriyya do not have: 2011 gives Southern Sudan the Nafisa Peace Agreement in 2001 in what came to be known as the ‘people to
people peace process’. The agreement was brokered under the aegis of the
right to secede and the Misseriyya fear that this could deprive Abyei Peace Committee (APC), a local body made up of Misseriyya and
them of large areas of land central to their livelihoods. It is Dinka leaders.

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These recommendations are reiterated here as they were not 2. Livestock support interventions. A livestock census should
considered in 2008. be conducted to determine actual livestock numbers in the
area, so that more realistic plans can be drawn up based
2. Defuse tension amongst youth through cash interventions. on actual carrying capacity. Overall, however, people could
Cash interventions aimed primarily at unskilled youth in be helped to reduce the number of animals they have by
urban and peri-urban areas should be prioritised. These improving the quality of the breeds. Attempts to mix local
could include emergency employment projects, or they breeds with Foja cattle have been successful and should
could be linked to educational outputs (Accelerated be further tested and replicated. The late weaning of
Learning Programmes, training). Labour-intensive inter- calves should be discouraged. This is usually done
ventions linked to public works could generate work for because of a lack of outlets to sell milk due to poor road
both skilled and unskilled people. UNDP has tested these and markets infrastructure.
programmes in the Gaza Strip and Afghanistan, and could
draw on these experiences. Initiatives could include Efforts could also be directed towards reducing the
developing agricultural or water infrastructure, waste number of mature males and other non-productive stock
collection and sanitation in urban areas and road building among herds. Legislation may be passed to discourage the
and maintenance. Labour-intensive programmes should be sale of older male animals, for instance by levying more tax
accompanied by support to small businesses, micro- on them. At the same time, veterinary services should be
finance initiatives and skills training to create sustainable enhanced to lessen disease. The privatisation process
opportunities for youth in the long term. should be supported and strengthened. An evaluation of
the relationships between the veterinary authorities and
3. Extend DDR programming to ex-members of the PDF. The community animal health workers should be undertaken
reintegration of former PDF combatants must be to ensure that remuneration on both sides is fair.5
prioritised. It is imperative that the DDR Commission and
UNMIS accelerate the rolling out of the DDR programme in 3. Water development. Water sources should be expanded to
the area, and ensure that former PDF fighters are produce a more even distribution of livestock on the range,
included. and to bring into play under-utilised rangelands. This will
entail developing more water points in the middle of the
4. Promote civic education. Urgently undertake wide Eastern murhal and the Ruqab, to lessen the movement of
dissemination of the content of the Abyei Protocol and the people with medium-sized and small herds and reduce the
Abyei Road Map in local languages, through leaflets and amount of animals crossing the Bahr al-Arab. Access to new
radio and TV messages, with the aim of fostering water sources should be regulated and managed, and water
understanding of the guarantees of Misseriyya grazing tariffs for large herds should be considered. Lessons should
rights in Ngok territory envisaged by the Protocol, and be learned from the problems encountered in sustaining
enhancing popular knowledge of the steps agreed in the hafirs, mainly stemming from inadequate management.
Road Map. Water harvesting through micro-catchment dams should be
explored as it is a more sustainable and environmentally
6.2.2 Medium to long term friendly solution.
1. Develop key infrastructure to stimulate the economy,
particularly in the pastoral sector. This is essential to 4. Pilot programmes for community livestock reserves. There
improve access to markets, both within the state and was disagreement within the team over the sustainability
towards North and South Sudan. Trade comes to a total of livestock ranching in a non-equilibrium environment
halt in most of Dar Misseriyya in the rainy season, i.e. for such as Dar Misseriyya. The work of the Research Station
more than six months a year. The road network has been in Kadugli, which assessed the technical feasibility of
improved only around oil fields, but it is essential that key keeping animals on ranches in Southern Kordofan,
roads are completed and maintained throughout the state. reportedly yielded encouraging results. The ranch pilot
A long-term development programme focused on trade showed that cattle could be kept year-round in the
linkages (livestock markets, agricultural produce) could cracking clays of Kadugli, that they had a higher calving
help promote stability, building on the long-standing trade rate than transhumant cattle, and that the distribution of
relations between Arab and Dinka groups. An important calving was more even throughout the year. Further work
example of this tradition is Warawar market, where Arabs should be done to test the feasibility of the model and
and local Dinka groups traded freely despite the ongoing identify advantages and disadvantages. This should be
civil war. Road construction should be accompanied by the done at community level, not in a research station.
development of key infrastructure aimed at supporting the 5 The paravets in Debab believe that the share that goes to the veterinary
livestock trade and the marketing of livestock by-products. administration as a proportion of the price of a bottle of vaccine is
unjustifiably high. This increases the price of a bottle of vaccine and
This includes abattoirs, small-scale meat factories and encourages a black market in drugs, with attendant risks that vaccines will
outlets for the preparation of dry fodder. be adulterated.

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5. Support for the marketing of animal by-products. existing stereotypes about their role. Misseriyya women are
Processing of feeds and animal products, especially milk notoriously secluded and socially marginalised, especially
products, should be encouraged. Small-scale processing in rural areas. Programmes aimed at addressing women’s
plants for milk could be introduced in rainy season areas practical needs and enhancing their strategic interests must
(makharif) that are able to process quantities of milk as be developed, involving the few Misseriyya women in urban
small as 500 litres into products that can be stored for centres who can act as catalysts in more remote areas. Ideas
marketing for many days. Small-scale units composed of a discussed with women’s groups in Muglad include training
room and simple equipment for cheese-making have midwives and community animators to work with nomadic
already been tested successfully in the White Nile area, women in rural areas; creating women’s cooperatives for
where 400 stationary ‘factories’ managed by just three men sanitation in urban centres; vocational training focused on
have been created along nomads’ transhumance routes. trades identified as acceptable for women (child-minding,
Small mobile plants for the cooling, pasteurisation and commercial kindergartens, vegetable production, electrical
sterilisation of milk, yoghurt-making and other dairy and mobile repair work).
processing are however also available on the international
market, and could be sourced from South Africa or India. 12. Support mobile education and boarding schools. Education
Such plants would allow pastoralists to process their own is seen as vital in order to facilitate access to alternative liveli-
milk and store the products for a week before selling them. hoods for the Misseriyya in the future. The current model of
mobile schooling should be evaluated to understand the
6. Range reseeding. Reseeding of the range, particularly in reasons behind its very limited success and remedy its short-
places where Gardud soils prevail, should be considered. comings. At the same time, the community desire for the re-
The plants selected for reseeding should be chosen opening of boarding schools must be acknowledged through
amongst those which are not endangered, dying out on the advocacy with the government to reintroduce boarding
range due to heavy grazing pressure near settlements and schools, with pilot institutions in key locations. Given that
watering points, or suffering from selective grazing. Water both groups consider them critical for their children’s future,
harvesting should be introduced to increase the soil boarding schools can facilitate confidence-building and
moisture content to enhance plant growth. reconciliation between Misseriyya and Dinka. Joint boarding
schools with a single curriculum could be tested in locations
7. Environmental advocacy. Advocacy should be promoted where both communities would feel comfortable leaving
with the government and oil companies on the negative their children. One possibility could be Kadugli. Alternatively,
impact of oil on pastoralist livelihoods and the environ- or as a complement, programmes of interaction between
ment. This could be pursued with the diplomatic missions Misseriyya and Dinka schoolchildren could be initiated to
of countries involved in the industry. promote understanding and mutual respect.

8. Agricultural support. Support could be provided to those 13. Support research capacity on the pastoral economy. There
who are engaged in agriculture to upgrade their existing are no animal research institutions in the Western Sector of
skills, which are often limited, and introduce new crops Southern Kordofan. The Faculty of Natural Resources at El
and technologies. Fula is in its infancy. Research on range productivity and
quality is lacking; research on animal production is rare and,
9. Support to income-generating activities in towns. To ease where it exists, deficient. Support to research should be pro-
urban poverty and reduce tensions, particularly amongst the vided. This could begin with training postgraduate students
unemployed and youth, interventions must be put in place to from the area, thereby also enhancing local capacity.
address income poverty in towns and small settlements.
Interventions could include support for business develop- 14. Support local mechanisms to negotiate use and access
ment and micro-credit to start up small enterprises. Special rights over land and settle land-related disputes. The
attention should be paid to supporting women. capacity of local leaders to negotiate use and access rights
over land and to settle land-related disputes has been
10. Accelerated Learning Programmes and training for youth. progressively undermined by the politicisation of the
Accelerated Learning Programmes for youth deprived of traditional administration. But traditional land admini-
education during the war and for ex-combatants should be strators could be helped to perform a more effective role and
introduced, to capitalise on the great desire for learning. operate in more inclusive and democratic ways, including
Market-tailored training programmes should also be through elected land committees, on which women and
developed in main centres to help youth learn technical youth would be represented. These committees could play a
trades, especially those relevant to the oil industry. key role in clarifying whether Misseriyya communities really
do want to settle, as maintained by traditional leaders, and
11. Support women’s strategic needs. Assistance offered to would help in developing a framework that could support
women in the region has been limited and tends to reinforce this aspiration in the long term.

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Cunnison, I. (1966) Baggara Arabs. Oxford: Clarendon Press. and Urbanisation among the Kababish Arabs in Sudan’. Africa, vol.
49, no. 3, pp. 393–411 (in Italian).
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Sudan: Experiences, Lessons and Future Action. Khartoum: UNDP. Peripheral Incorporation and Social Transformation in Islamic
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Annex 1
Misseriyya Native Administration system
Table A1: Misseriyya Amirs and their deputies in 2003
Emirate Tribal group Name Tribal subsection Headquarters Position
1 Awlad Kamil and Mazaghna Ajaira Mukhtar Babo Kamli Muglad Amir
Awlad Kamil and Mazaghna Hamdi Al Doud Ismail Mazghani Muglad Deputy Amir
2 Awlad Omran and Fadliya Ismail Hamdein Awlad Omran Debab Amir
Awlad Omran and Fadliya Mustafa Al Naeim Fadliya Muglad Deputy Amir
3 Fayarin Musalam Abu El Gasim Fayarin Babanusa Amir
Fayarin Al Hireika Osman Fayarin Al Meiram Deputy Amir
4 Awlad Sirur Fallaita Hammad Omer Awlad Sirur Fula Amir
5 Mitanein Salim Al Imam Mitanein Kijeira Amir
6 Ziyoud Nazeer Gibreil Ziyoud Muglad Amir
Ziyoud Hamid Adam Umm Ghabasha Babanusa Deputy Amir
7 Salamat Bakheit Fadelalseed Salamat Keilak Amir
8 Gubarat Ramadan Noural Safa Gubarat Fula Amir

Table A2: Misseriyya Omodya, name of omdas and number of sheiks by Emirate, 2003
1. Awlad Kamil and Mazaghna
No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Muglad Ariya – Gamal el Din 2
2 Nimatein Awlad Salama 6
3 Muglad Awlad Salama 12
4 Babanusa Awlad Moumin and Beni Helba 7
5 Muglad Al Trakna- dar Hantour 3
6 Ummdaries Kalabna 1
7 Muglad Dar umm Sheiba 9
8 Muglad Fakarein 14
9 Muglad Abu Gadeer 33
10 Siteib Dar Mouta 9
11 Muglad Dar Umm Sheiba 9
12 Muglad Dar Bakheit 15
13 Muglad Dar Salim 6
14 Muglad Kalabna 15
15 Ummdaries Kalabna 13
Sub Total 154

2. Awlad Omran and Fadliya Emirate

1 Babanusa Umm Sumaien 35
2 Nimatein Fadliya 17
3 Gouli Awlad Shiroug 18
4 Babanusa Dar Habeeballa 9
5 Babanusa Dar Zabli 10
6 Debab Umm Goud 15
7 Birka Awlad Rahama 7
8 Debab Umm Hammad 7
Sub Total 118

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Table A2: Misseriyya Omodya, name of omdas and number of sheiks by Emirate, 2003 (continued)
3. Fayarin Emirat
No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Muqadama Awlad Gibreil 26
2 Muqadama Awlad Agla 14
3 Meiram Awlad Owana 18
4 Meiram Sadagi 14
5 Meiram Awlad Umm Hani 15
6 Al Dambaloiya Al Aisar 19
7 Meiram Awlad Kimeil 20
8 Gouli Awlad Gibreil 8
Sub Total 134

4. Awlad Sirur Emirate

No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Babanusa Awlad Gafeer 1
2 Abu Allikri Awlad Elaian 2
3 Babanusa/Shambar Awlad Umm Khamees 3
4 Fula Gerafeen 4
5 Shambar Umm Boukta 5
6 Shambar Awlad Gamma 6
Sub Total 71

5. Al Mataneen Emirate
No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Al Barasaya Awlad Arafa 11
2 Kijaira Awlad Areef 13
3 Kijaira Awlad Zeyada 9
4 Babanusa Awlad Shabeeb 11
5 Kijaira Al Shamiyya 10
6 Momo Momo 37
Sub Total 91

6. Alziud Emirate
No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Sinaitaya Umm Goda 28
2 Babanusa Awlad Hammad 6
3 Debab Umm Ghabasha 5
4 Birka Umm Gammouli 5
5 Birka Umm Sabeeb 5
6 Kijaira Awlad Mahadi 1
7 Muglad/Sinaitaya Awlad Kagga 4
8 Babanusa Al Zibda 8
Sub Total 62

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Table A2: Misseriyya Omodya, name of omdas and number of sheiks by Emirate, 2003 (continued)
7. Salamat Emirate
No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Keilak Abu Idris 2
2 Keilak Awlad Saeeda 3
3 Fula Awlad Ali 5
4 Keilak Awlad Gadeem 2
5 Fula Awlad Fadul 1
6 Fula Al Gababra 3
16 Sub Total

8. Al Gubarat Emirate
No Headquarter Omodya Number of sheikhs
1 Fula Awlad Mohamed 6
2 Keilak Wad ElNaeem 1
3 Muglad Abu Hilal 3
Sub Total 10
Grand Total 656

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Annex 2
Water yards, pumps and latrines
in Abyei locality
Village Administrative Population Established by Water tank Functioning Latrine
Unit GoS NGO Company Private capacity pump coverage %
Sammoa (GoS) Muglad 2,575 x 10,000 x 0
Um Batykh (GNPOC) “ 3,000 x 8,000 x 0
Um Batykh (GoS) “ 0 x 8,000 0
Um Batykh (Sagay) “ 0 x 10,000 0
Um Khaboub (GNPOC) “ 3,000 x 10,000 0
Um Al Bashar (Concern) “ 6,800 x 10,000 x 0
Um Al Bashar (GoS) “ 0 x 10,000 10
Um Sham (GoS) “ 3,800 x 10,000 43
Um Sham (GNPOC) “ 0 x 0 0
Muqadama (Concern) “ 6,000 x 10,000 x 43
Muqadama (GoS) “ 0 x 10,000 0
Muqadama (GNPOC) “ 0 x 10,000 x 0
Hummed (GoS) “ 2,600 x 10,000 5
Odam (Concern) Meiram 880 x 8,000 x 28
Fuda (Concern) “ 8,500 x 1,000 x 7
Geogyna “ 1,350 x 0 0
Meiram (Dawah) “ 44,800 x 8,000 x 20
Meiram (B) “ 0 x 10,000 x 0
Meiram (Ansar Sunna) “ 0 x 8,000 0
Meiram (GNPOC) “ 0 x 10,000 x 0
Meiram (A) “ 0 x 10,000 x 0
Meiram (A) “ 0 10,000 0
Meiram (IDPs) “ 0 x 5,000 x 0
Al Hiryca “ 1,800 x 10,000 x 4
Um Dress (Concern) Sitaib 700 x 10,000 x 0
Nebyg “ 4,300 0
Zarafat “ 600 0
Al Agad (GoS) “ 4,000 x 10,000 0
Al Agad (GNPOC) “ 0 x 7,500 0
Sitaib (GoS) “ 9,200 x 12,000 x 41
Sitaib (GNPOC) 0 x 6,000 x 0
Debab (Zamzam) Debab 63,000 x 10,000 x 3
Debab (77) “ 0 x 10,000 x 0
Debab (GNPOC) “ 0 x 10,000 x 0
Debab (A) “ 0 x 10,000 0
Kilo 50 “ 1,050 x 10,000 x 60
(continued)

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Village Administrative Population Established by Water tank Functioning Latrine

Unit GoS NGO Company Private capacity pump coverage %
Kilo (GoS) Muglad 0 x 8,000 0
Nimatain (GNPOC) “ 2,000 x 8,000 x 5
Nimatain (GoS) “ 0 x 10,000 0
Shatain (Concern) “ 2,280 x 0 x 0
Abu Agber (GoS) “ 2,220 x 0 7
Al Magabi “ 590 x 10,000 x 0
Edylim (GoS) “ 7,000 x 10,000 50
Edylim (GNPOC) “ 0 X 6,000 x 0
Al Feshyg (GoS) Debab 0 x 10,000 0
Kiwykaya (Zamzam) Muglad 0 x 10,000 x 0
Source: CONCERN, September 2008

Key remarks
The total number of water yards is 43, located in 27 villages
There is no access to drinking water in Um Sham, Edylim, Agad and Meiram
Only 28% of water yards have fencing separating water for livestock consumption from water for human use

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Annex 3
Sudan Stock Route Project – Northern Route

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38
 hpg
hpg
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
hpg
Humanitarian
Policy
Policy
Group
Group Policy Group

Put out to pasture

War, oil and the decline of Misseriyya
Humr pastoralism in Sudan
Sara Pantuliano, Omer Egemi, Babo Fadlalla and Mohammed Farah
with Mohammed Elamin Abdelgadir

March 2009

ISBN: 978 0 85003 896 5

9 78085 0 038965

Misseriyya cover.indd 1 6/4/09 8:31:11 am