Thirty dead in southern Sudan tribal fighting

KHARTOUM, SUDAN - Aug 12 2009 10:25

At least 30 people have been killed in southern Sudan's remote Warrap State in an apparent resurgence of a long-running tribal feud, a government official said on Tuesday.

The attack on Sunday on the Awan sub-clan of the south's Dinka tribe is the latest outbreak of violence in the region that may have killed more than 1 000 people this year and threatens a fragile peace established after Sudan's 2005 north-south peace deal.

"We have not yet confirmed the wounded but 30 people were killed," James Kueth, who is in charge of emergency response in the government South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, told Reuters.

Many huts were burned to the ground in the attack in Tonj East County of Warrap State and all of the dead were Awan, Kueth said.

The attackers were from the Luac Jang clan of the Dinka tribe -- the south's largest ethnic group -- which Kueth said has been engaged in reciprocal cattle rustling and counter-attacks with the Awan for many years.

He said a United Nations team will visit the area on Wednesday to ascertain the numbers wounded and displaced.

Sudan's 22-year north-south war, over racial and political differences, left many southern communities heavily armed.

Inter-tribal and inter-clan fighting is common during the south's dry season but the death tolls this year in the south's Jonglei State have not been seen since the civil war.

Earlier this month, 185 people, mostly women and children, were killed close to Akobo town in Jonglei. Aid workers visiting the area afterwards described scenes of carnage, with many bodies still on the ground.

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The south's President Salva Kiir has said the level of violence is rising as part of an attempt to discredit the region's ability to maintain stability ahead of a 2011 vote on secession for the south. -- Reuters

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