The Sudan Handbook

186 thE sudan handbook

higher cost and its closer link to the organs of state power. The county

judge himself is from a prominent local family of paramount chiefs. He

had gone to school in the days when the British still ruled Sudan, and

became a minor government official. In the 1980s the SPLA ordered

him to become a ‘chief’ on one of the appeal courts they established

in the area. More recently he had been given paralegal training and

was appointed as county judge. His court applies statutory laws and

procedures, but the great majority of cases are settled by customary

compensation payments.

John’s case is one example of the myriad, complex disputes that arise

across Sudan. Cultures and customs vary, but there is a common need

for arenas in which grievances may be addressed and resources claimed.

Many people in Sudan rely primarily on access to land and water for

farming and grazing, and on the resources of marriage exchanges. If a

neighbour encroaches on cultivable land, or another group of herders

deny access to a water-source or a grazing route, or a daughter falls

pregnant, or a marriage is breaking down, there is usually some attempt

to deal with the problem privately, and a strong culture against rushing

too hastily to outside authorities. But when the immediate parties are

unable to come to terms, they must inevitably turn either to violence or

to mediation.

Mediation in disputes is a function played by numerous different

actors; across Sudan, family and community elders are nearly always the

first and preferred source of mediation. Successive governments have,

however, sought to institutionalize certain official avenues of dispute

resolution. Often couched in terms of empowering traditional authority,

or protecting local custom, this has really been an attempt to increase

government control over local society. Yet, while the resulting institutions

of local government or Native Administration are seen by government

as a channel for regulating and monitoring local communities, they have

nevertheless tended to function as a two-way conduit. People have long

recognized the value of appealing to a mediator who can back up a favour-

able decision with the sanction of government force, as illustrated by

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors John’s faith in the county court. Other kinds of sanction may be equally

(www.riftvalley.net).