The Kaligi (Arabic: Feroghe) are an ethnic group in

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. Most of its members are Muslims. The number of persons in this group is above 10,000. They live in

Western Bahr el Ghazal Western Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of and as of 2020 has estimated 600,000 in population. It is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. Its capital is Wau. The state shared international borders with Sudan to the north ...

.Gurtong Peace Project
/ref> They originally lived scattered in an area between the Bora River to the south and Bahr al-Arab to the north. Their lack of unity as a people allowed them to be conquered by

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

. During the 19th century the Kaligi were forced to migrate southwards due to the pressure of Mahdist campaigns against some local minorities. Sultan

Ali Dinar Muhammad Ali Dinar (; 6 November 1916), known more generally as Ali Dinar, was the last sultan of Darfur and ruler from the Keira dynasty. Ali Dinar ascended to the throne of Darfur in 1891, after his cousin, the 'shadow sultan' Abū l-Khayrāt, ...

's mother belonged to this ethnic group, which is why the sultan gifted the Kaligi with copper drums that they continue to play every Idd to this day. There are seven Kaligi clans named after the sons of Hamad: Kara, Fartak, Osman, Taher, Abuzala, Aliga (Khalifa) and Abbakar. Their economy is based on agriculture and copper deposits and they are considered very religious. Kaligi leaders were loyal to the north during the civil wars and after the 1989 Coup they joined the NIF, making the Kaligi people loyal to the new military regime. During NIF rule the Kaligi strengthened as the dominant minority in Bahr al-Ghazal.

References

Kaligi

Joshua Project The Joshua Project is an Evangelicalism, evangelical Christian organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs, United States, which seeks to coordinate the work of Christian_mission#Contemporary_concepts_of_mission, missionary ...

Ubangian peoples Ethnic groups in South Sudan Western Bahr el Ghazal {{SouthSudan-ethno-group-stub

See also

References