Clashes in Sudan’s Darfur between Rizeigat and Gimir tribes have killed more than 100 people. It started as a land dispute. The fighting has so far killed 117 people and left 17 villages burnt. Deaths so far have largely been among the Gimir tribe.
KHARTOUM June 14: Clashes in Sudan’s Darfur between Arab and non-Arab groups have killed more than 100 people, adding to a toll of hundreds in the region over recent months.
The latest fighting broke out last week between the Arab Rizeigat and non-Arab Gimir tribes in the district of Kolbus, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from El Geneina, the capital of the West Darfur state.
It started as a land dispute between two people, one from the Rizeigat and another from the Gimir, before morphing into broader violence involving other members from both tribes.
“The fighting has so far killed 117 people and left 17 villages burnt,” including three Monday, Ibrahim Hashem, a leader in the ethnic African Gimir tribe, told AFP by phone.
Hashem said the deaths counted so far were largely among the Gimir tribe. He added that “many people” from his tribe have gone missing since the violence broke out and was continuing.
The latest violence highlighted a broader security breakdown in Darfur which was exacerbated by last year’s military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
In April alone, more than 200 people were killed in clashes between an Arab community and the non-Arab Massalit minority in the Krink area of West Darfur.
The United Nations estimated 125,000 people were displaced in that unrest.
A month earlier, fighting in South Darfur between the ethnic Fallata and the Arab Rizeigat tribes killed at least 45 people.
Source: VOA News
Image: Albert Gonzalez Farran
