In Sudan, a tribal dance is usually a private affair, off-limits to outsiders. But in this southern region once riven by tribal fighting, you're likely to see a laughing Dinka trying to learn Jor steps, or Chad women gently coaxing a shy Fertit maiden to strut her stuff.

Sudanese from different tribes perform a traditional peace dance Tuesday, July 15, 2003 sponsored by the UN and aid officials and local leaders in the main square in downtown Wau, Sudan, 850 kilometers south of Khartoum. Members of each of the area's 33 tribes are welcomed in the spirit of calming tensions and getting to know one another. [AP]

For the last three years, a weekly "peace dance" has been held in the main square in Wau, 500 miles south of Khartoum, aimed at bringing the area's 33 tribes together to get to know each other.

Sponsored by UNICEF, aid workers and local leaders, it makes a joyful break from 20 years of war and related famine that have left more than 2 million Sudanese dead.

"You will find here Jor, Dinka, Balanda, Bongo, Chad, Kiraish and Arabs. Any tribe, you have them here," said Luis Carlos, a 27-year-old Jor who works occasionally as a vendor at the Wau market and rarely misses a peace dance. "I think it helps bring us together as tribes. It is good for us."

Civil war broke out in 1983 when rebels seeking greater autonomy took up arms against Sudan's predominantly Arab and Muslim government.

In the Wau region of the largely animist and Christian south, tribesmen allied themselves with rival rebel groups, and some estimates say more people died in the southern clashes than in the whole north-south war.

Anthony Obur Donyia, a Fertit leader and peace dance organizer, says the tribes slowly came to see themselves as pawns in other people's wars.

"When we realized that this is not our own making, we said we should stop this among us, enough is enough. And we thought of something that brings us together, something common, and this is dancing."

There's the male-dominated dance of the Dinka in which participants brandish fake spears and mimic a bull's horns with their hands. And there's a gentler, more feminine Fertit dance in which women and men imitate the strutting of courting pigeons. All are driven by the beat of tambourines made of hide.

Some tribes add bells or wind instruments fashioned from animal horns or bamboo.

The dancers gather every Sunday — some in shorts or trousers, others in tribal dress. Up to 1,000 people from a dozen tribes turn out on a good day. If it rains, the event moves to another day. But no week goes by without a peace dance.

The setting itself is a reminder of the fighting. Many of the homes and businesses surrounding the square have been destroyed by shelling.

Each tribe gathers in its own circle as the evening begins. Then a young man or woman visits another tribe's circle to dance and learn. The dancing continues until sunset, after which some young people linger to chat. The curfew has been extended four hours to 10 p.m. thanks to easing tensions.

"Now you can see we can dance together and learn from each other," Donyia said. "People continue to dance whatever happens, and there was never a case of quarreling or fighting."

Events, though, can darken the mood. When the latest session of peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, ended in stalemate, people on their way to the dance gathered in small groups to mull over the bad news.

No date for resuming peace talks has been set. But the dancing continues.

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