Nuba

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A Nuba woman

Nuba is a collective name for different ethnic groups that live in the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan . They are the largest non-Arab ethnic group in northern Sudan, with a population of over one million.

In the past, there was often no distinction between Nubians and Nuba.

Languages ​​and culture

The Nuba speak about 40 different languages. These include kordofanian languages (a common only in the Nuba Mountains primary branch of the Niger-Congo languages ), also bergnubische languages - a subset of the Nubian languages - Daju- , Nyimang- and tema languages , all at the ostsudanischen subset of the Nilo-Saharan Language family , as well as Kadu languages , the classification of which is unclear. The linguistic diversity is explained by the role of the Nuba Mountains as an old retreat for smaller ethnic groups. The Arab is widespread as a second language and lingua franca.

Nuba traditionally lived largely naked, they only wore belts made of bark, colored fabric and leather, but adorned themselves - men and women - with necklaces and v. a. through decorative scars that were created by lightly incising the top layers of the skin, whereby the men's skin was incised deeper and the scars were therefore more bulged. There were role differences between men and women; in exceptional cases a man could have more than one woman. Every woman was entitled to her own house.

Well-known are the wrestling matches and dances held at seasonal festivals, in which the enjoyment of Merisa (millet beer) plays an important role, and her special way of painting her body . Today, the majority of Nuba are Muslims, some are Christians. Both religions have incorporated a large proportion of African beliefs.

history

Nuba village

The origin of the Nuba has not been clarified beyond doubt. According to one theory, they are descendants of the Cushites . It is likely that they originally lived in lower terrain before they retreated to the mountains, probably to avoid attacks by slave hunters. This is supported by our own traditions.

The ethnic groups known as Nuba make up about 90 percent of the population in the Nuba Mountains. The remaining 10 percent are Arab cattle herders called Baggara who immigrated around 1800.

In the 19th century, especially during the Turkish-Egyptian rule and up to the rule of the Mahdi, the trade in Nuba slaves flourished, which was operated by the Baggara as middlemen. Nuba fled to retreat areas in the mountains. The British colonial power tried to persuade the Nuba to return from the mountains and to improve relations with the Arabs by isolating the area from 1922. Arab traders now required special permits to enter the area. In 1937 isolation was given up and the North Kordofan region was added. Nuba continued to suffer structural disadvantages due to a lack of education and underdevelopment. An aggressive assimilation campaign by the Arab north led many Nuba to convert to Islam. During the first civil war in South Sudan , which began with Sudan's independence in 1956, the Nuba remained neutral and did not join the South.

The main cause of the conflict between the ethnic groups in 1968 was the introduction of mechanized agriculture, financed by a World Bank loan, and the land rights reform that made this possible. Many small Nuba farmers were expropriated and communal land fell into the hands of a few large landowners, who received over half of the fertile land in the plains and formed a temporary alliance with the Baggara. Baggara shifted their cattle routes and now claimed land from the small farmers.

As a result, the farmers sympathized with the South Sudanese SPLA rebels when the civil war broke out again in 1983 . From 1985, the Baggara were supplied with weapons by the North Sudanese government, and the war began in the Nuba Mountains. Nuba have suffered grave human rights violations, hunger, displacement and the kidnapping of civilians as slaves . In 1992 the government declared jihad against the Nuba . As a result, the government was accused of “ ethnic cleansing ” of the Nuba Mountains, including genocide . In 2002 the Bürgenstock Agreement temporarily ended the civil war in the Nuba Mountains.

As of 2011, aid organizations have not been able to visit the area for at least 3 years. Part of the area was not under government control and was bombed and fought over with ground forces. Another ground offensive followed in 2016. The war was still going on when protests against the government arose in Sudan at the turn of 2018/2019.

The Nuba became known to the Germans since the 1970s primarily through the photographic works by Leni Riefenstahl . A well-known Nuba is Mende Nazer .

economy

Agriculture on the hills ...
... and in lower terrain between the hills

The Nuba live mainly from agriculture, especially millet cultivation. In addition, other crops such as maize are grown and livestock are farmed. Traditionally, the Nuba mainly used the fertile plains between the hills for agriculture. This was made more difficult for them during the civil war, as they had to retreat to the hills, where they could only grow little. The Sudanese government also tried to promote cultivation on large farms in the area and to displace the small Nuba farmers.

List of the Nuba ethnic groups

Web links

Commons : Nuba  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robin Thelwall, Thilo C. Schadeberg: The Linguistic Settlement of the Nuba Mountains. In: Language and History in Africa 5, 1983, pp. 219–231
  2. ^ Oskar Luz: The Nuba. Castle dwellers in the Sudanese highlands. In: Heinrich Harrer (ed.): The last paradises of mankind. Gütersloh 1979, pp. 114-131
  3. ↑ a b Mohamed Suliman: The Nuba Mountains of Sudan. In: Daniel Buckles (ed.): Cultivating Peace. International Development Research Center, Ottawa 1999, pp. 205-220
  4. ↑ Oswald Iten: Fungor. A Nuba village is ruined (Frankfurt / M. 1983)
  5. ↑ Extermination By Design: The Case for Crimes Against Humanity In Sudan's Nuba Mountains , Satsentinel.org, November 20, 2014
  6. Jump up ↑ The Forgotten Conflict in Southern Sudan , Lord's Day, January 2, 2019
  7. ↑ As an internally displaced person in the Nuba Mountains , Cap Anamur, January 16, 2019
  8. ↑ Demo: 400 people from Sudan demonstrate in Geneva against the Umar al-Bashir regime , Migrant Solidarity Networt, January 6, 2019