The use of the term Baggara carries negative connotations as slave raiders, so they prefer to be called instead Messiria.

[3] the Term "Baggara" means simply 'cowman' but the Sudanese apply the word particularly to the nomadic cattlemen, who span the belt of savanna between Lake Chad and the White Nile.

In Sudan, while the Abbala live in the semi-desert part of the region: northern Kordofan and Darfur, the Baggara, by contrast, live on their southern fringes; occupying the area roughly south of 12 degrees north and extending well into flood basins of the White Nile to the south.

The Messiria Zurug share most of their land with the Nuba tribes, along the western sides of the national highway connecting Deling to Kadugli; the capital city of South Kordofan and extending to Talodi.

The traditional fighting was intensified during the first southern guerrilla's fighting, called Anyanya,[3] in 1964 when a whole Messiria nomad camp around Lake Abyyad was massacred in a terrible human slaughter by Anyanya fighters, none were spared including children, elderly and brides; many Messiria were abducted and women were raped by the rebels.

The Messiria retaliated with a sequence of attacks targeting southern villages and nomadic camps; they abducted children and raided cattle.

At the time, the abductions and retaliations became the norm in the region, but, mostly children and cattle were retrieved by local authorities and the spirit and will of coexistence always prevailed.

Earlier incidents in the early eighteenth century during British rule, had led to both Hawazma and Messiria taking up arms.

Weapons, known locally as Marmatoun and Ab’gikra, were as common among Nuba as AK-47 among Baggara Arabs today.

The Sudanese government gave the Messiria Arab militia machine guns and ordered them to drive the Nilotic peoples from the Western Upper Nile oil region.