48 killed in Sudan's Darfur clashes

Tribal clashes in Sudan’s Darfur region have killed at least 48 people in the latest bout of violence, according to state media.

“The death toll from militia attacks in al-Geneina yesterday reached 48,” the SUNA news agency said on Sunday, referring to the capital of West Darfur state and quoting the local branch of the country’s doctors’ union.

“The bloody events which are still ongoing since Saturday morning [have] also left … 97 wounded.”

Saturday’s clashes initially pitted the Massalit tribe against Arab nomads in al-Geneina, about two weeks after the United Nations and African Union ended a 13-year peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

The violence morphed into broader fighting involving armed militias in the area, which left several buildings, including houses, scorched.

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Twitter on Saturday he had ordered a “high-profile” delegation, including security services, be sent to West Darfur to follow up on the situation.

The vast Darfur region was the scene of a bitter conflict that erupted in 2003, leaving about 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced, according to the UN.

At the time, fighting erupted when ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which responded by recruiting and arming a notorious Arab-dominated militia known as the Janjaweed.

The main conflict has subsided over the years but ethnic and tribal clashes still flare up periodically, largely pitting nomadic Arab pastoralists against settled farmers from non-Arab ethnic groups.

The violence often centres on land and access to water.

Source: Al Jazeera