The Ugly Face of Intertribal Fighting
What happens when two tribes that have lived together for more than a century start tribal fighting? Here are some of the things that happen. Among other ugly faces of intertribal conflict and violence we see that two friends from the warring tribes get separated, silence prevails, they strangle and kill each other and the process, kill the future of their children.
The children are initiated into everlasting work of revenge; they are introduced into fragility where they will pay with their lives for the evil they never committed.
The elders who have experienced the beauty of living together as one community start to suffocate themselves with thinking and end up dying of stress, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
The old grandparents and innocent children who have been living deep in the villages end up paying for crimes they are innocent of. Too old and frail or too young to run and escape the wrath of a vengeful fire started by unforgiving attackers, the bodies of these innocent people end up being consumed in the house fire, in the familiar environment which they have known as home. Meanwhile, the innocence of young girls is stolen, while their dead bodies are left on the ground like pieces of clothing to trample upon.
The vulnerable people who are always there to listen and clap for their leaders will go away one by one; running like rats from fire with no one to immediately stop the danger from spreading because there are protocols to be followed.
No member of the two tribes will feel safe anywhere because members of the other tribe will be present and ready to take revenge for their person who has been a victim elsewhere. This continues to widen the gap between people for centuries.
When a tribal conflict is politically motivated, resolutions to solve the violence on the ground will be done politically with no focus to stop the speedy destruction taking place on the ground because everything is based on political interest especially that of scoring credit from the very victims later.
With the intertribal conflict, even the most vibrant community leaders go silent and this might be because either one is puzzled, ashamed, or strategizing for his or her next move. So, not everyone who is silent during the conflict is innocent.
To any intertribal conflict, there might be a third party who is there to collect what will remain on the ground after the conflict/violence for their own benefit; the tribes as long as they are on the neck of each other should know they are becoming ready for packing into the abyss.
Tribal conflict is ugly and it is as ugly as an octopus with so many tentacles. It is difficult to know what the next hour will bring to you. You may get news of the injuries or death of your best friend, mother, father, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son or daughter, etc. from any part of the world for the simple reason that your tribesmen killed a member of another tribe. Indeed, tribal fighting is ugly. It is wise to shun tribal conflict and violence. I urge you to say to it.
Intertribal conflict/violence is known to happen between neighboring tribes or those who are interconnected, people who have been living together just as Jesus lived with his apostles until one of them betrayed him to death, and this what he said: “The Son of man is going to his fate, as the scripture says he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born” (Mattew 26:24).
It is not late to say no to intertribal fighting with its ugliness and embrace the beauty of living with your fellow friends from the other tribes. The devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know. Speak, dialogue, and cooperate today for peace rather than war.
By Rev. Fr. John Gbemboyo, Communications Director, Sudan & South Sudan Catholic Bishop Conference
