The Masalit ( Masalit: ''masala/masara''; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting western

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and eastern

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

. They speak the

Masalit language Masalit (autonym ''Masala/Masara''; ) is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maban language group spoken by the Masalit people in Ouaddaï Region, Chad and West Darfur, Sudan. Masalit, known as the ''Massalat'', moved west into central-eastern Chad ...

Overview

The Masalit primarily live in

Geneina Geneina (sometimes Al-Junaynah or ElGeneina; , lit. ''the little garden'') is a city in West Darfur, part of the dar Masalit region, in Sudan. It joined British Sudan at the end of 1919 through the Gilani Agreement, signed between the Masalit ...

, the capital of

West Darfur West Darfur State ( Wilāyat Ḡarb Dārfūr), historically Dar Masalit (), is one of the states of Sudan, and one of five comprising the Darfur region. Prior to the creation of two new states in January 2012, it had an area of 79,460 km² ...

, though a few thousand also live in Al Qadarif State in eastern Sudan, and in

South Darfur South Darfur State ( Wilāyat Ǧanūb Dārfūr; Janob Darfor) is one of the States of Sudan, wilayat or states of Sudan. It is one of the five states that compose the Darfur, region of Darfur in western Sudan. Overview Prior to the creation of t ...

. According to ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'', there were 462,000 total Masalit speakers as of 2011, of whom 350,000 resided in Sudan. Masalit tradition traces their origins to

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. After migrating through Chad, they eventually settled in present-day Sudan. Before 1874, the Masalit were divided between multiple polities in the region such as the

Wadai Sultanate The Wadai Sultanate ( ''Saltanat Waday'', , Fur: ''Burgu'' or ''Birgu''; 1635–1912), sometimes referred to as the Maba Sultanate (), was an African sultanate located to the east of Lake Chad in present-day Chad and the Central African Republi ...

and the

Sultanate of Darfur The Sultanate of Darfur () was a pre-colonial state in present-day Sudan. It existed from the 17th century to 24 October 1874, when it fell to the Sudanese warlord Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur, and was reestablished again from 1898 to 1916, until it ...

. However, after the conquest of the

by the Ottomans and Egyptians in 1874, the Masalit were unified into a Sultanate by Hajjam Hasab Allah. However, Hajjam's rule was seen by the Masalit population as oppressive. Thus, he was ousted in 1883 by Ismail Abdel Nebi, who took control of the Sultanate. In 1895 the Masalit Sultanate was invaded by the

Mahdist State The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah (later Muhammad Mahdi, al-Mahdi) against ...

; the Sultan escaped capture by putting himself under the protection of the sultan of Wadai. The fall of the Mahdist state in 1898 did not bring peace to western Darfur. 'Ali Dinar's accession to the throne of a restored Darfur Sultanate, and his claims of sovereignty over all small frontier states, ushered in a new period of conflict. In 1903 'Ali Dinar attacked and defeated the Masalit, and captured and executed their sultan. Subsequently the Sultan's brother, Taj al-Din Isma'il, rallied the Masalit forces and drove out the Darfuri army. The peace treaty of 1908 left 'Ali Dinar in ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

'' control of the Masalit, but in reality it placed Taj al-Din at the head of a small but proud Masalit state under the vassalage of the

. Masalit tribes were among the rebel groups that fought against the Sudanese central government and the pro-government

Janjaweed The Janjaweed () are an Sudanese Arabs, Arab nomad militia group operating in the Sahel, Sahel region, specifically in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United ...

militia during the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

that started in 2003. Reprisals and ethnic cleansing led to an estimated 170,000 deaths over two years, and intermittent violence persisted afterwards. As part of the 2023 civil war in Sudan, the

Rapid Support Forces The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; ) is a paramilitary force formerly operated by the government of Sudan. The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias which previously fought on behalf of the Sudanese government. RSF ...

(RSF) (a successor to the Janjaweed) launched a new campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur. In June 2023,

Khamis Abakar Khamis Abdallah Abakar (; 30 March 1964 – 14 June 2023) also known as Khamis Abakar was a Sudanese politician, marginalized groups rights activist and former army commander who served as the Governor of West Darfur from 2021 until his assass ...

, a Masalit and the governor of

, accused the RSF of genocide; he was later killed.

Language

The Masalit speak the

, which belongs to the Maban language group of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Masalit is divided into several dialects, with the variety spoken in South Darfur differing from that of West Darfur. The northern Masalit dialect is spoken to the east and north of

. The Masalit language is most closely related to the Marfa, Maba and Karanga languages. It shares 45% of its vocabulary with Marfa, 42% with Maba, and 36% with Karanga. Most Masalit are bilingual in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, except in the central area, where the Nilo-Saharan vernacular is primarily spoken. Masalit is written using the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

Culture

The Masalit are also known as the Kana Masaraka/Masaraka, Mesalit, and Massalit. They are primarily subsistence agriculturalists, cultivating peanuts and millet. Further south in their territory, they grow various other crops, including sorghum. The typical Masalit dwelling is conical in shape, and constructed of wood and thatch. The Masalit are Muslim and their religious practices incorporate traditional beliefs and customs. Islam first appeared in the area around the 17th century with the arrival of wandering Muslim mystics.

Genetics

Maternally, the Masalit entirely belong to African-based derivatives of the macrohaplogroup L according to Hassan (2010). Of these mtDNA clades, the L0a1 (14.6%) and L1c (12.2%) lineages are most frequent. According to Hassan et al. (2008), around 71.9% of Masalit are carriers of the

E1b1b E-M215 or E1b1b, formerly known as E3b, is a major human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. E-M215 has two basal branches, E-M35 and E-M281. E-M35 is primarily distributed in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and occurs at moderate frequencies in ...

paternal haplogroup. Of these, 73.9% bear the V32 subclade. Approximately 6.3% also belong to the haplogroup J1. This points to significant patrilineal gene flow from neighbouring

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...

-speaking populations. The remaining Masalit are primarily carriers of the A3b2 lineage (18.8%), which is instead common among

Nilotes The Nilotic peoples are peoples indigenous to South Sudan and the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan and the Gambela Region of Ethiopia, while also being a large minority in Kenya, Uganda, the north eastern borde ...

. This altogether suggests that the genetic introgression into the Masalit's ancestral population was asymmetrical, occurring primarily through Afro-Asiatic-speaking males rather than females.

Notable Masalit people

* Usumain Baraka (born 1994), activist

Notes

External links

The Hidden Slaughter and Ethnic Cleansing in Western Sudan: An Open Letter to the International Community (1999)Massaleit.info
{{authority control Ethnic groups in Chad Ethnic groups in Sudan African nomads Darfur