By Emadeldin Ali Rijal

 

Through a series of meetings, representatives of the African Union - United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have been working with local communities to revitalize Darfur’s traditional mechanisms for resolving conflict, and in doing so, help Darfuris solve local problems more efficiently than they would otherwise be able to do through the court system.

 

For centuries, Darfur, like other parts of Sudan, has known Judyia and Ajaweed as interdependent social mechanisms for resolving disputes that arise in and among communities. While such mechanisms are now seen by legal experts to have fallen short in functioning effectively to settle certain kinds of differences, recently some 1,000 people across Darfur have taken part in a series of workshops that are highlighting the strengths of these traditional strategies.

 

Participants at the workshops have received training not only on the background, importance and methodology of Judyia and Ajaweed, but also on communications and negotiations skills. “Such workshops will help raise the community’s awareness of the importance of traditional approaches to conflict resolution and help facilitate ways of settling disputes,” says Adam Ismaeil Abbaker, Sheikh of the Ardamata camp for internally displaced persons in West Darfur.

 

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