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SUDAN / MISSERIYA MIGRATION
STORY: SUDAN / MISSERIYA MIGRATION
TRT: 3.50
SOURCE: UNMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21-23 JANUARY 2009, ABYEI, SUDAN
1. Wide shot, people gathered under a tree
2. Med shot, boy walking with a bowl of food
3. Close up, hands digging into food
4. Close up, man eating
5. Med shot, men looking on
6. Wide shot, tilt of woman making her hut
7. Med shot, woman making the hut
8. Close up, woman’s hands with a twig
9. Med shot, woman’s face
10. Wide shot, camel resting in front of a hut
11. Med shot, camel with people in the background
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Doud Daham Mohamed, Misseriya Village elder:
“Things have changed, when we were young we used to come and graze our cows here and things were stable and secure. Even with our southern brothers we did not have any problems. We used to stay together for 5-6 months and then we’ll go back.”
13. Wide shot, cattle grazing
14. Med shot, Misseriya herder walking
15. Med shot, cows moving
16. Close up, more cows
17. Med shot, man riding a cow
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Omar Tom Ali, Misseriya nomad:
“If the Dinka Ngok say the land belongs to them, we will also say it belong to us because our grandfathers lived here and died here, that 300 years ago. Things will get worse if the government gives the land to the Dinkas because it’s belongs to the both of us. It’s only that we are nomads and move from place to place that why they want to take advantage.”
19. Wide shot, cows at water point
20. Med shot, reflection of cow in the water
21. Close up, cows drinking
22. Med shot, cows drinking at water point
23. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Doud Daham Mohamed, Misseriya Village elder:
“The reason we clash is because our lives depend on these cattle, so if there is no water then we have to fight to get them water, because cattle is our livelihood and we can’t live without it.”
24. Wide shot, cows in dried up field
25. Med shot, cows in the field
26. Wide shot, Misseriya nomad with a gun
27. Close up, man holding an AK-47
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Johnson, UNMIS head of Office in Abyei:
“Last year it was agreed that they could migrate with arms but only a small number for personal protection and protection of their cattle, because the other complicating factor is, you would remember is that the Misseriya were also part of the old PDF and part of the fight against the south in the last war and so there is always a fear that they could again become part of a fight. Arms could not just be there for protection but also turned into aggression.”
29. Wide shot, Misseriya herder with cattle
30. Med shot, cattle
31. Wide shot, Misseriya herder milking a cow
32. Close up, milk being squeezed into a bowl
33. Wide shot, sunset at a Misseriya cattle camp
34. Med shot, cows
Its breakfast time or “fatour” as they call it around here. Gathered under a tree in the middle of nowhere, these men shade themselves from the sun as they share a meal.
Although from different families, this group of Misseriya nomads has been on the road for about 60 days. This dried-up area in Gole, 25 kilometers from Abyei town is what they will call home for the next six months.
The women are in charge of construction here. As the men rest the women are busy putting up the structures where their families will be sheltered.
Every year during the dry season thousands of Misseriya cattle headers located in Sudan’s South Kordofan province migrate southwards, moving their cattle into the Abyei area in search of water and pasture.
The Muglad-Abyei corridor is one of three migration routes used by the nomads. Women, young children and the elderly would stay in areas close to Abyei town, while the young men move the animals further south only to return north as the rains approach during the months of May and June.
Abyei area is considered a bridge between north and south Sudan and is the traditional land of the Dinka Ngok people. Misseriya nomads have for years roamed through Dinka lands and both communities have shared its resources often peacefully.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Doud Daham Mohamed, Misseriya Village elder:
“Things have changed, when we were young we used to come and graze our cows here and things were stable and secure. Even with our southern brothers we did not have any problems. We used to stay together for 5-6 months and then we’ll go back.”
Sudan’s two-decade long civil war sparked tension in the Abyei area which was under the control of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). During this period many Dinkas left the area to return only after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the north and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement in the South.
Despite the peace, there have been on and off tensions between the two groups, both claiming the right to the land. The political dispute between the north and south on where oil rich Abyei’s borders lie, has made the situation even more precarious.
As provided in the CPA, an Abyei Boarder Commission was established to determine the area’s exact borders according to historical records, but its finding were disputed by the NCP and the case is now at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
But even as they wait for a decision, these nomads have to graze their cattle. Tensions are often high during the dry season with competition over water points and grazing land, cattle theft is also a common practice.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Omar Tom Ali , Misseriya nomad:
“If the Dinka Ngok say the land belongs to them, we will also say it belong to us because our grandfathers lived here and died here, that 300 years ago. Things will get worse if the government gives the land to the Dinkas because it’s belongs to the both of us. It’s only that we are nomads and move from place to place that why they want to take advantage.”
In May last year, clashes in Abyei between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army left most of town destroyed, killing close to 100 people and displacing up to 50,000 people, most of whom fled to the south. Calm has returned to Abyei and a power sharing administration was setup, but the tensions remain.
After last year’s clashes, tensions increased between the Dinka and the Misseriya. As a result Misseriya nomads have had to stay longer north of the Abyei area as leaders of the two communities look for ways of easing the tension and averting possible conflict, but time is running out and the pasture and water points are drying up.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Doud Daham Mohamed, Misseriya Village elder:
“The reason we clash is because our lives depend on these cattle, so if there is no water then we have to fight to get them water, because cattle is our livelihood and we can’t live without it.”
Dinka cattle herders south of the river Kirr also move north from time to time to graze their cattle. Cows are both communities’ source of livelihood and they would do whatever it takes to protect them. One of the contentious issues is the Misseriya carrying arms as they migrate.
SOUNDBITE (English) Christ Johnson, UNMIS head of Office in Abyei:
“Last year it was agreed that they could migrate with arms but only a small number for personal protection and protection of their cattle, because the other complicating factor is, you would remember is that the Misseriya were also part of the old PDF and part of the fight against the south in the last war and so there is always a fear that they could a gain become part of a fight. Arms could not just be there for protection but also turned into aggression.”
For years there has always been conflict during the migration period, but the two communities had traditional methods of resolving them. Today many of these methods seem to have been pushed aside.
The nomads are getting anxious and need to move their animals, hoping that sooner than later a solution is reached and both communities can co-exist and live in peace no matter what the court in The Hague decides and no matter where the borders are.
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