The Ja'alin, Ja'aliya, Ja'aliyin or Ja'al (Arabic: جعليون) are an Arab or Arabised Nubian tribe in Sudan. They claim Arab descent. The Ja'alin formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartoum to Abu Hamad; they constitute a large portion of the Sudanese Arabs and are one of the three prominent Sudanese Arab tribes in northern Sudan. Many Sudanese politicians have come from the Ja'alin tribal coalition.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 Ja'alin tribe in the context of Rapid Support Forces
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; Arabic: قوات الدعم السريع, romanized: Quwwāt ad-daʿm as-sarīʿ) are a Sudanese paramilitary force formerly operated by the Sudanese government. They originated as auxiliary force militias known as the Janjaweed used by the Sudanese government during the War in Darfur, which the government later restructured as a paramilitary organization in August 2013 under the command of Muhammad Dagalo, the current leader of the RSF, better known as Hemedti. Since 2023, they have been fighting a civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the country, after having taken power along with the SAF in a military coup in 2021. As of 2025, they have established a parallel government with their allies called the Government of Peace and Unity to rule over the territories under their control.
The RSF's motives are widely characterized by academics, journalists, and other local and international observers as Arab supremacist and economic in nature. Their forces have been documented committing war crimes on a vast scale against members of non-Arab ethnicities in Darfur and against Northern Sudanese Arabs (Ja'alin and Shaigiya) in Khartoum state and Gezira State because of their perceived support of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Many of the RSF’s fighters come from Baggara Arab tribes residing in the Darfur region of Sudan, Chad or elsewhere in the “Baggara belt” of the Sahel. Their fighters are largely recruited as mercenaries, with funding coming from the capture of gold mines and patronage by corporate and state actors; the group has also hired out its fighters as mercenaries to fight in conflicts and assist governments outside Sudan. As a result of these activities, the leaders of the RSF have become some of the richest people in the country. The RSF has adopted an anti-Islamist stance in its public relations, and has claimed its new state will be a secular democracy with a bill of rights, but these postures have been met with widespread skepticism by observers given the RSF's behavior on the ground.
In this Dossier
Ja'alin tribe in the context of Shendi
Shendi or Shandi (Arabic: شندي) is a small city in northern Sudan, situated on the southeastern bank of the Nile River 150 km northeast of Khartoum. Shandi is also about 45 km southwest of the ancient city of Meroë. Located in the River Nile state, Shandi is the center of the Ja'alin tribe and an important historic trading center. Its principal suburb on the west bank is Matamma. A major traditional trade route across the Bayuda Desert connects Matamma to Merowe and Napata, 250 km to the northwest. The city is the historical capital of the powerful Sudanese Arab Ja'alin tribe whom most of its denizens belong to. The village of Hosh Bannaga, hometown of former President Omar al-Bashir, is located on the outskirts of the city.
Ja'alin tribe in the context of Sudanese Arabic
Sudanese Arabic, also referred to as the Sudanese dialect (Arabic: لهجة سودانية, romanized: Lahjat Sūdānīyah, Sudanese Arabic [ˈlahɟa suːˈdaːnijja]), Colloquial Sudanese (Arabic: عامية سودانية [ˈʕaːmmijja suːˈdaːnijja]) or locally as Common Sudanese (Arabic: دارجى [ˈdaːriɟi]) refers to the various related varieties of Arabic spoken in Sudan as well as parts of Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Sudanese Arabic has also influenced a number of Arabic-based pidgins and creoles, including Juba Arabic, widely used in South Sudan.
Sudanese Arabic is highly diverse. Famed Sudanese linguist Awn ash-Sharif Gasim noted that "it is difficult to speak of a 'Sudanese colloquial language' in general, simply because there is not a single dialect used simultaneously in all the regions where Arabic is the mother tongue. Every region, and almost every tribe, has its own brand of Arabic." However, Gasim broadly distinguishes between the varieties spoken by sedentary groups along the Nile (such as the Ja'aliyyin) and pastoralist groups (such as the Baggara groups of west Sudan). The most widely-spoken variety of Sudanese is variably referred to as Central Sudanese Arabic, Central Urban Sudanese Arabic, or Khartoum Arabic, which more closely resembles varieties spoken by sedentary groups. Some, like researcher Stefano Manfredi, refer to this variety as "Sudanese Standard Arabic" due to the variety's comparative prestige and widespread use. Linguist Ibrahim Adam Ishaq identifies two varieties of Arabic spoken in Darfur besides Sudanese Standard Arabic, including Pastoral Arabic and what is generally termed Darfur Arabic, which refers to the Arabic primarily spoken by multilingual Darfuris living in rural parts of the region. A number of especially distinct tribal varieties, such as the Arabic spoken by the Shaigiya and Shukriyya tribes, have also elicited special interest from linguists.