Search for transitional justice in Darfur: the role of the traditional mechanisms

Abstract

The ethnic identity that used by the government of Sudan to stoke the conflict, by recruiting local Arab militia (Janjaweed), to fight non-Arab rebel groups created serious ethnic tensions between communities in Darfur and destroyed the social fabric. Issues related to the criminal justice and other elements of transitional justice still not properly addressed. The formal justice system in Sudan proved to be unable to handle crimes with an international nature. The need for traditional justice mechanisms that could effectively address the root causes of the conflicts, heal the ethnic tensions and ensure safely co-existence and sustainable peace, in fact, become highly needed in Darfur context. This thesis examines the complementarily role of the traditional justice mechanisms in the context of Darfur conflict. The study demonstrate that Darfur Traditional Justice mechanism is vital element in justice and reconciliation and has essential role to play in some emerging issues impacted from the conflict such as land tenure, reparation, peace and reconciliation