Kujarke people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| perhaps 1,000 in 1981[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Sudan and Chad | |
| Languages | |
| Kujargé | |
| Religion | |
| Animism |
The Kujarke people (also spelled Kujargé) are a little-known ethnic group of the Ouaddaï Region in eastern Chad and South Darfur, Sudan. They speak Kujargé, a divergent, unclassified Afro-Asiatic language.[2] Their current population and locations are unknown due to the war in Darfur. Furthermore, they have not been previously recorded as a separate ethnic group by any government or foreign aid organization.[1]
Due to the war in Darfur, most Kujarke may now be living in refugee camps in the Goz Beïda and Dar Sila regions of eastern Chad. However, the Kujarke have not been recorded as a separate group by any government or foreign aid organization. As a result, Kujarke may have been passing themselves off as Daju or Fur. The first time the Kujarke had been mentioned in over 25 years was when French anthropologist Jerome Tubiana had interviewed a Daju village chief in Tiero. The chief of Tiero mentioned that a Kujarke village had been burned to the ground by the Janjaweed in 2007 during an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Daju people. Nothing else is known about the current state of the Kujarke people.[1]
According to Paul Doornbos, the Kujarke had lived mainly by hunting and gathering due to the climate, terrain, and unstable seasonal water supply of the Dar Fongoro area being inhospitable for intensive agriculture and animal husbandry. Honey was one of their main foods obtained through foraging.[1]
Ethnic relations
The Kujarge refer to themselves as Kujartenin Debiya. They are surround by the Daju-Galfigé to the west, the Sinyar to the north, and the Fur-Dalinga, Fongoro, Formono, and Runga to the east and south. Historically, they had been ruled by the Daju sultans, and may have been slaves of the Daju.[3]
Also, Lebeuf (1959) reports that the Daju Nyala refer to the Darfur Birgid as Kajargé.[3]
Although the Kujarke were mostly endogamous,[3] Sinyar men may have also intermarried with Kujarke women, as Kijaar was the name of one of the 18 Sinyar clans. The Kijaar clan was located closer to the core Kujarke area of Jebel Mirra than all of the other Sinyar clans.[1]