NUBA (Sudan, 1997-2002)

The Nuba Mountains, lying in the middle of Sudan, are a natural barrier between the black Christian and the Arab Islamic parts of Africa. With the introduction of Sharia – Islamic law and administration of justice – in Sudan in 1983, the mountains became a good refuge for the Nuba. That tribe rebelled against the Sharia, just as did the south Sudanese, largely Christian and animist rebels. For decades the Nuba were isolated from the world, living under almost prehistoric conditions. Francesco Zizola traveled five times to the Nuba Mountains to record how the Nuba sought to survive, maintaining their own traditions. The discovery of oil in the mountains possibly presages better times.