tRaditional authoRity, loCal GoVERnmEnt & JustiCE 199The search for land rights has contributed to the association of ethnic
or kin groups with a particular unit of local administration. In turn,
governments have sought or rewarded loyalty by creating new adminis-
trative units for groups, and encouraged the perception that rights and
resources can only be guaranteed by each group having a corresponding
traditional leadership position. The result has been a proliferation of ever
smaller administrative units, and vigorous struggles to create or promote
new positions in Native Administration, which conveniently ensures that
people are preoccupied with local power struggles rather than national
politics. Local government reforms since the colonial period intended to
replace so-called tribal units with territorial ones; instead, the two have
fused, so that ethnic or sectional units seek recognition as territorial
units, leading to ever greater fragmentation.
In northern regions of Sudan, the NIF/NCP has intervened very
significantly in local administration to foment conflict or to shore up
support. This has been particularly apparent in the case of Darfur, where
a division of the old province into three states transformed the former
majority Fur into a minority in each state, and a new title of amir was
inserted in the higher levels of Native Administration (especially in west
Darfur state) to enable greater manipulation of appointments. Certain
groups have been rewarded with newly independent units in the Native
Administration and titles for their support of the government or in
order to undermine other groups and their leaders. The government
has intervened comprehensively in the selection of individual leaders,
particularly in Darfur; the hereditary tradition is respected but governors
and commissioners appoint their chosen member of the chiefly family
rather than the popular or family choice. No wonder that Darfuri rebel
movements have deliberately targeted some of the government-appointed
leaders since 2003.
This political interference has, however, largely been confined to the
higher levels of the Native Administration. Village sheikhs have retained
much greater credibility and have continued to play a key role in dispute
resolution at the local level; they have also moved with their people,The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors including into the Darfur camps for the internally displaced. Like the
(www.riftvalley.net).