The death toll from days of tribal fighting in southern Sudan has risen to at least 220. Fighting in Blue Nile province, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, reignited this month over a land dispute. It pits the Hausa people, who have origins across West Africa, against the Berta community.
KHARTOUM OCTOBER 24: The death toll from days of tribal fighting in southern Sudan has risen to at least 220, making this one of the deadliest episodes of ethnic violence in recent years.
Fighting in Blue Nile province, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, reignited this month over a land dispute. It pits the Hausa people, who have origins across West Africa, against the Berta community. The region is host to around forty different ethnic groups. Its economic activity is based on agriculture and livestock and increasing mineral exploitation.
Blue Nile is one of the eighteen states of the Republic of the Sudan. It was established by presidential decree nº 3 in 1992 and is named after the Blue Nile River.
The tensions escalated on Wednesday and Thursday in the town of Wad al-Mahi on the border with Ethiopia. The unrest added to the woes of a country mired in civil conflict and political chaos.
