An Arab tribe in Sudan’s Darfur said on Tuesday it had killed 100 members of a rival group, adding to a mounting toll from an upsurge in violence this year.
The incident reflects the altered dynamics of a decade-old conflict in which the government can no longer control its former Arab tribal allies, known as Janjaweed.
“We lost 28 of our men and we killed 100 from the other side,” Ahmed Khiri, a Misseriya tribal leader, told AFP.
He was referring to fighting with the Salamat tribe outside of Garsila town in western Darfur on Monday.
Khiri said 17 more Misseriya fighters were wounded and there was a threat of further violence.
“Troops from both sides are gathering in different areas,” he said.
Non-Arabs in Darfur rose up 10 years ago against what they saw as the domination of Sudan’s power and wealth by Arab elites.
In response, the government-backed Janjaweed militia shocked the world with atrocities against them.
But analysts have warned since at least 2010 that relations were souring between Khartoum and the Arab tribes it armed to fight the insurgency.
Inter-ethnic fighting, more than government-rebel clashes, has been the major source of violence in Darfur this year, where an estimated 300,000 people were displaced in the first five months alone, says the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
That is more than in the previous two years combined.
Sudan’s economy has deteriorated since 2011 after most of its export earnings disappeared when South Sudan separated with the bulk of the country’s oil production.
Although the exact causes of the latest violence are not clear, observers say the crisis-hit government generally has less money for the militias.
“Now they have taken things into their own hands,” a Sudan analyst said, citing a feeling that the government has “betrayed” them.
Tribal disputes have been driven by conflict over resources including land, water and mineral rights, observers say.
A UN panel of experts reported in February that Darfur had seen “some incidents in which former members of government militias have forcibly expressed their discontent with the current government, especially against the backdrop of rising inflation and unemployment.”
In the latest violence, “Misseriya attacked our village with heavy weapons… A huge number of people were killed on both sides”, a Salamat leader said.
Both tribes say scores more have been killed since the latest outbreak of warfare between them began in early July.
“The government promised to send troops from Zalingei to intervene between the two parties but they are not here yet,” the Salamat leader said, referring to the capital of Central Darfur state.
Sudan’s army spokesman could not be reached.
Garsila is about 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of the Abugaradil area, where last week’s battles between Misseriya and Salamat killed 94 people, mostly Salamat, Khiri said at the weekend.
The Salamat said 52 of their men died during those clashes on the borders with Chad and the Central African Republic.
As of June, 30,000 Sudanese had fled into Chad because of the tribal fighting in southwestern Darfur as well as similar unrest in North Darfur, the United Nations says.
Clashes between Misseriya and Salamat started in April before a peace agreement was signed on July 3.
Days later, the fighting resumed.
The unrest forced the UN’s World Food Programme to suspend for 13 days its distribution of food to more than 32,000 needy people in Garsila town.
Distribution finally resumed on Friday, said Amor Almagro, WFP spokeswoman.
On Saturday in North Darfur state, the Beni Hussein and Rezeigat Arab tribes inked a peace deal to end a separate conflict, which a member of parliament said killed hundreds over several weeks.
In April, the Salamat accused members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police of joining some of the fighting.
But the Sudan analyst, who asked for anonymity, said security force members seem to join the unrest because of their individual tribal affiliations.
“How far it is state-sponsored, it’s really hard to say,” he said.
Prior to this year’s surge of violence, there were already 1.4 million people in camps for people uprooted by Darfur’s conflict.
Source : Ahram
