Major tribal reconciliation in Saudi

Two key bedouin tribes in Saudi Arabia packed an area midway between their neighborhoods to end a month-old rift triggered by the injury of one of them at the hands of his opponent, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Chieftains and hundreds of tribesmen from Qahtan and Wayla tribes shook hands and hugged each other to end the dispute in an out-of-court settlement that involved the payment of SR110,000 ($30,000) as a compensation for the victim, the Arabic language daily Alriyadh said in a report from the rugged southwestern town of Najran close to the border with Yemen.

The dispute was caused when a Qahtan man, a member of the feared Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, stopped a car driven by a member of the other tribe.

Angered by the act, the driver dragged the Commission member by his car for nearly 500 metres, inflicting injuries to all his body and forcing him to stay in hospital for more than one month.

“The dispute ended when the Wayla tribe paid SR100,000 for the victim and SR10,000 as a gift to the Qahtan tribe,” the paper said. “It also produced 24 men who swore that the incident was not deliberate or planned.”