The Sudan Handbook

tRaditional authoRity, loCal GoVERnmEnt & JustiCE 201

retained their authority within the camps. What is often most apparent is

the preservation, if not of the individual personnel, then of the institutions

of the traditional leadership. And even among those critical of Native

Administration, underlying systems of customary dispute resolution

have tended to retain legitimacy.

Local Justice

Despite the widespread criticisms of the politicization, corruption or

incompetence of traditional authorities, people continue to approach

them to settle disputes and cases, as we saw at the outset. Even in regions

devastated by war, people have needed mediation in their disputes.

Yet, perhaps in recognition of the relatively autonomous dynamics of

local recourse to justice and mediation, governments have also sought

to control and regulate local courts. Native or chiefs’ courts are thus

governed by clear limits on their sentencing powers and form defined

levels in the overall judicial hierarchy, rather than existing as a separate

system. At the same time people have sought out the force of government

backing in the courts to ensure that favourable judgements are executed:

however implicitly, ‘customary’ justice actually relies on its recognition

by the state for its authority. In John’s area, chiefs continued to settle

disputes during the decades of war from 1983; when people wanted to

appeal against the chiefs’ decisions, they were sometimes willing even to

approach the military authorities for settlement of their cases. The hope

of a favourable settlement has long been the primary reason for people

to interact with the state, however arbitrary and militarized it appears.

John’s decision to approach the county court, however, is indicative

of an increasing tendency, even in this cattle-keeping area of southern

Sudan, to approach the government courts or police directly. In his case

this was a progression from previous hearings in the chiefs’ courts, but

more widely chiefs complain that they are being by-passed and the old

hierarchy of traditional courts undermined. In part this is the result of

the disruptions of war and military rule, in which a multitude of military,

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors security and police officers have intervened in disputes. But it also reflects

(www.riftvalley.net).