Messiria - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Messiria known also under the name of Misseriya Arabs are a branch of the Baggara

Baggara

The Baggāra Arabs are a set of communities inhabiting the portion of Africa's Sahel between Lake Chad and southern Kordofan, numbering over one million. They have a common language which is one of the regional colloquial Arabic languages...

Arabs tribes. Their language is the Sudanese Arabic

Sudanese Arabic

Sudanese Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken throughout northern Sudan. It has much borrowed vocabulary from the local languages . This has resulted in a variety of Arabic that is unique to Sudan, reflecting the way in which the country has been influenced by both African and Arab cultures...

. Numbering over one million, the Baggara

Baggara

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

Geography of Messiria Country (Dar Al Messiria)

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

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

and Chad

Chad

Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...

republics are of two kinds: camelmen (called Abbala) and cattlemen (called Baggara
Baggara
The Baggāra Arabs are a set of communities inhabiting the portion of Africa's Sahel between Lake Chad and southern Kordofan, numbering over one million. They have a common language which is one of the regional colloquial Arabic languages...

). the Term Baggara
Baggara
The Baggāra Arabs are a set of communities inhabiting the portion of Africa's Sahel between Lake Chad and southern Kordofan, numbering over one million. They have a common language which is one of the regional colloquial Arabic languages...

means simply cattlemen but the Sudanese apply the word particularly to the nomadic cattlemen, who span the belt of savanna between Lake Chad

Lake Chad

Lake Chad is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Africa, whose size has varied over the centuries. According to the Global Resource Information Database of the United Nations Environment Programme, it shrank as much as 95% from about 1963 to 1998; yet it also states that "the 2007 ...

and the White Nile

White Nile

The White Nile is a river of Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile from Egypt, the other being the Blue Nile. In the strict meaning, "White Nile" refers to the river formed at Lake No at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal rivers...

. This belt is the homeland for the Baggara people for centuries. Ian Cunnison, referenced above said "History and environment together throw light on their distribution". In Sudan, while the Abbala lives on the semi-desert part of the region: northern Kordofan and Darfur

Darfur

Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...

, the Baggara

Baggara

on the other hand lives on their southern fringes; occupying the area roughly south of 12 degree north

12th parallel north

The 12th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 12 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Indian Ocean, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Central America, South America and the Atlantic Ocean....

and extending well into flood basins of the White Nile to the south.

In general the Dar Al Messiria or their zones can be divided into three areas:

1.1. Dar Al Messiria in Kordofan, Sudan.

1.2. Dar Al Messiria in Darfur

Darfur

, Sudan.

1.3. Dar Al Messiria in Chad

Chad

.

The Messiria in the three different zones are separated for long times to the point that they have developed localized cultural and social differences. The Messiria in Kordofan know little if any about the Messiria in Dar Fur and Chad

Chad

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

Dar Al Messiria in Kordofan, Sudan

In Kordofan, the Messiria occupies the area historically known as West Kordofan, among their well known locations are: Abyei

Abyei

The Abyei Area is an area of in Sudan accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the resolution of the Abyei conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of Abyei Area is Abyei Town...

, Babanousa, El Muglad, Lagawa, El Mairam, and Lake Kailak.

Messiria Divisions in Kordofan

The main divisions of Messiria in Kordofan are Messiria Zurug; literally the name means The dark ones and Messiria Humr; means The red ones. These names: Zurug and Humr do not mean in any way that the Zurug are darker in skin color than Humr, but most likely the Humr are darker than Zurug ones. According to MacMichael, 1967: The two divisions have become so distinct that the Humr have ceased to rate themselves Messiria. However, in Sudan

Sudan

today, still they are called Messiria Humr and Messiria Zurug and still they acknowledge their common history and ancestry.

Messiria Zurug – According to MacMichael, 1967 the Messiria Zurug have the following divisions:

Messiria Humr – According to Ian Cunnison, 1966: The Humr are divided into:

Dar Al Messiria in Darfur, Sudan

The area known as Nitega (نتيقة) is the mainland of the Messiria in Dar Fur, among the landmarks in the area is the Mountain Karou (جبل كرو).

Background of the conflict

The Misseriyya mostly live around Kordofan and migrate south into the Dinka

Dinka

The Dinka is an ethnic group inhabiting the Bahr el Ghazal region of the Nile basin, Jonglei and parts of southern Kordufan and Upper Nile regions. They are mainly agro-pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet and other varieties of grains ...

territory. They are marginally represented in Darfur

Darfur

and there they live a semi-sedentary life. The Misseriyya were once a larger group, but overtime it fractured into smaller groups. Page text.

The location of Messiria of Kordofan is at the border zone between Sudan

Sudan

and Southern Sudan, specially the southern Fringes of their nomadic zone. The Abyei

Abyei

area is claimed by Messira as well as by Ngok Dinka

Dinka

, to be theirs. While the Messiria are Baggara Arabs, Sunni Muslims and identified as Northerners, on the other hand, Ngok Dinka

Dinka

are Southerners and identified as Africans either Christians or Animists. The Messiria historians tell that, one of their grand parents named sheikh Abu Nafisa his burial is found far southern of present Abyei town

Abyei (town)

Abyei is a north-south border town currently in the Abyei Area of the South Kordofan region, in the south of Northern Sudan. The U.N...

and he had died around early seventies of the eighteen century. Henderson, MacMichael and Ian Cunnison all attest the presence of Messiria in the eighteen century. Similar history is also available for the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms on the same area. Being both nomads, The Messiria and Dinka

Dinka

coexisted for long time and shared the grazing resources. Those Messiria who have most contact with Ngok Dinka are the Messiria Humr. The Messiria Zurug share most of their land with the Nuba

Nuba

Nuba is a collective term used here for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Sudan, Africa. Although the term is used to describe them as if they composed a single group, the Nuba are multiple distinct peoples and speak different languages...

tribes, along the western sides of the national highway connecting Deling city to Kadugli; the capital city of South Kordofan and extending to Talodi

Talodi

Talodi is an ethnic group in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. They speak Talodi, a Niger–Congo language. They likely number more than 1,000....

city. On the eastern side of this national highway found the Hawazma

Hawazma

Hawazma, part of Sudan's Baggara tribe, are cattle herders who roam the area from the southern parts of North Kurdufan to the southern borders of South Kurdufan, a distance of about 300 kilometers...

tribes sharing the land also with the Nuba

Nuba

tribes. The Nuba

Nuba

are indigenous Africans inhabiting the area known as Nuba Mountains

Nuba Mountains

Nuba Mountains is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the 18th century, Nuba Mountains became home to the kingdom of Taqali that controlled the hills of the mountains until their defeat by...

of Southern Kordofan and mostly Sunni Muslims. Both Nuba

Nuba

and Dinka

Dinka

are sided with Southern Rebels (SPLA/SPLM) during the civil war, while Messiria and Hawazma

Hawazma

Hawazma, part of Sudan's Baggara tribe, are cattle herders who roam the area from the southern parts of North Kurdufan to the southern borders of South Kurdufan, a distance of about 300 kilometers...

sided with Sudanese Government.

Historical grazing disputes

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

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

Dinka

, Nuer or Nuba

Nuba

over grazing and water resources. The traditional fighting was intensified during the first Southern guerrilla’s fighting, called Anyanya

Anyanya

The Anyanya were a southern Sudanese separatist rebel army formed during the First Sudanese Civil War . A separate movement that rose during the Second Sudanese Civil War were, in turn, called Anyanya II...

I, in 1964 when a whole Messiria nomad camp around lake Abyyad was massacred in a terrible human slaughter by Anyanya

Anyanya

fighters, none were spared including children, elderly and brides; many Messiria were abducted and women were raped by the rebels. The Messiria retaliated with a sequence of attacks targeting Southern villages and nomadic camps; they abducted children and raided cattle. At the time, the abductions and retaliations became the norm in the region, but, mostly children and cattle were retrieved by local authorities and the spirit and will of coexistence always prevailed.

Such targeting of Anyanya

Anyanya

fighters on Messiria nomads lead to Messiria starting to accumulate weaponry to counter-balance the rebel fighters' force. Earlier incidents in the early eighteenth century during British rule, had led to both Hawazma

Hawazma

Hawazma, part of Sudan's Baggara tribe, are cattle herders who roam the area from the southern parts of North Kurdufan to the southern borders of South Kurdufan, a distance of about 300 kilometers...

and Messiria taking up arms. In around 1908, the British armed the Nuba to fight against the expansion of the Northern Arabs in the region. Weapons, known locally as Marmatoun and Ab’gikra, were as common among Nuba as AK-47

AK-47

The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

among Baggara Arabs today. All these indicate that the ingredients of ethnic war already exist in the region and the new SPLA war was just an ignition of an existing ethnic chasm in the area.

In Abyei

Abyei

the Dinka Ngok and Misseryia are engaged in territorial disputes.

The Civil War

See the Civil War under Hawazma

Hawazma

Hawazma, part of Sudan's Baggara tribe, are cattle herders who roam the area from the southern parts of North Kurdufan to the southern borders of South Kurdufan, a distance of about 300 kilometers...

. The Messiria are the first Northern tribes and the first Baggara

Baggara

tribes to suffer from the Southern war.

The Sudanese government gave the Misseriya arab militia machine guns and ordered them to drive the Nilotic peoples from the Western Upper Nile oil region. The successfully took the Luk Nuer in Bentiu and Eastern Jikany Nuer

Jikany Nuer

The Jikany Nuer are a section of the Nuer people who mainly live in the eastern part of Upper Nile state in South Sudan, particularly around Nasir in Nasir County.-Civil war:...

in 1984.

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