At least 65 people have been killed in renewed tribal clashes in Sudan’s Darfur, a tribal leader said on Thursday, two days after the United Nations approved a massive peacekeeping force for the war-wracked region.
The fighting, in which another 25 people were wounded, took place in Southern Darfur on Tuesday and raised the toll from two days of clashes between the Rzigat Aballa tribe and the Torjam to at least 140 dead.
”Armed Aballa men attacked our people when they were gathered on Tuesday to commemorate those who died on Monday,” Torjam tribal chief Mohammad Hammad Jalabi told Agence France-Presse by telephone from the state capital of Nyala.
The tribes, at odds over grazing rights and livestock raiding, have violated a February truce seven times.
Jalabi said Tuesday’s attack took place in Saniat Daliba village, about 50km south of Nyala, and was aimed at getting his people to abandon their lands.
He said fellow chiefs had asked UN representatives to probe the attacks, which he said the local authorities loyal to Khartoum were unable to prevent.
On July 25, Sudanese newspapers reported that another 16 people died in clashes between the two tribes when Aballa men fell on a band of Torjum.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday approved a beefed-up force of 26 000 to take over from the under-equipped African Union force of 7 000 currently trying to bring peace to Darfur, an area the size of France.
Darfur came to world attention in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government to protest at their region’s marginalisation.
The government combated the rebellion with camel-riding Janjaweed militia, many from the Rzigat Aballa tribe, who have since been accused of atrocities and genocide.
About 200 000 people have been killed and 2,5-million displaced in the Darfur conflict, according to UN estimates. Some sources say the death toll is much higher, while the government says they are radically lower. — AFP
