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Thousands flee as tribal clashes in Sudan's Darfur leave dozens dead

Last week's fighting between Misseriya and Rezeigat tribesmen in the restive region left at least 48 dead, a local refugee official says, and UN reports thousands of displacements after large-scale violence.

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Analysts see violence and growing insecurity in Sudan's far-flung regions as a product of the power vacuum caused by the military takeover.

Tribal clashes in Sudan's restive Darfur region have killed at least 48 people last week, a refugee official said, the latest round of inter-communal violence to hit Sudan's neglected peripheries.

The fighting is the first reported large-scale tribal violence in Darfur since August — even as eruptions of tribal clashes over the past months have killed more than 350 people in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile province.

The clashes between the Misseriya and the Rezeigat tribesmen erupted near the village of Juguma in Central Darfur last Wednesday, following an armed robbery, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

Some 24 of the victims were killed on Saturday after unknown gunmen opened fire on people trying to mediate the conflict, OCHA said.

Thousands of people have fled to the neighbouring village of Tuktuka, mostly women and children, OCHA added.

On Sunday, authorities in Central Darfur had a one-month state of emergency and imposed a nighttime curfew.

Aid workers have been evacuated from the area, and assistance operations have been suspended.

Adam Regal, a spokesman for a local organisation that helps run refugee camps in Darfur, told The Associated Press news agency that the death toll from last week’s clashes is likely higher.

Preliminary framework agreement

The increase in violence across the south and west of Sudan comes as the country’s ruling generals and the main factions of the sprawling pro-democracy movement are engaged in internationally backed talks trying to revive the country’s democratic transition.

Sudan has been plugged into turmoil since the country leading military figure, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that upended the country’s short-run democratic transition following three decades of rule by Omar al Bashir.

In a statement on Wednesday, The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change — an alliance of Sudan's main pro-democracy groups — said it was expecting to sign a preliminary framework agreement with the military in the coming days, in a step toward ending the 13-month political impasse.

Last month, the two sides reportedly agreed verbally to a new draft constitution for a transitional period that would allow for a civilian-led government to lead Sudan to elections by 2024.

However, several key issues remained, including the future role of Sudan’s various armed forces.

Analysts see the violence, and growing insecurity in Sudan's far-flung regions as a product of the power vacuum caused by the military takeover, with the ruling generals' clampdown focused on the capital, Khartoum, and the country's heartland.

SOURCE: AP