Arab militia attacks on Sudanese villages near a south Darfur flashpoint displaced up to 12 000 people and killed more than 40 civilians, an aid worker and a rights watchdog said on Saturday.
Clear-cut details on who was behind the fighting, the full extent of damage and casualties remain elusive because of minimal humanitarian access to the area around Muhagiriya, east of the South Darfur state capital, Nyala.
”At least 15 villages were attacked and burnt, and about 12 000 people displaced,” one international aid worker said on condition of anonymity.
The US-based organisation, Human Rights Watch, said more than 40 civilians were killed between October 5 and 17, and thousands fled their homes.
It quoted unnamed local sources as saying government-backed Arab militias attacked more than 13 villages and settlements around Muhagiriya, burning homes and stealing livestock in operations against rebel forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) distributed aid to more than 4 000 people displaced by communal clashes over cattle and livestock in the Muhagiriya area and the villages of Sinet and Shabab in early October.
It said the displaced were mostly women and children, who were sheltering under trees and in a wadi, but warned that the onset of winter could see their living conditions quickly deteriorate.
”We provided sleeping mats, clothes and tarpaulins for more than 4 000 people, including some elderly and disabled,” said Juan Carlos Carrera, the ICRC official who supervised the distribution.
One aid worker said 51 people were killed and 40 wounded in the clashes around Muhagiriya.
”I’ve seen reports of between 40 and 70 dead. There has been some assessment down there but probably not enough to be sure about how many were killed,” said another humanitarian, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
Arab militia attacks were reported on October 12 by members of the deeply fractured rebel group the Sudan Liberation Movement, which first rose up against the Arab-led government in Khartoum in 2003.
Human Rights Watch said ongoing fighting, which has also lasted for weeks in North Darfur, underscored the inability of the under-deployed African Union and United Nations peacekeeping operation to protect civilians.
No one from the government in Nyala or the Sudanese military responded to telephone calls from Agence France-Presse on Saturday.
The violence goes against a new peace initiative launched by President Omar al-Bashir on October 16, at a ceremony attended by regional dignitaries but by none of the rebels involved in the nearly six-year war.
The Sudanese head of state could face an international arrest warrant for alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. His regime wants the UN Security Council to suspend any world court legal proceedings.
Aid officials reported fighting between the ”Arab” Maaliya tribe and the ”African” Zaghawa, as well as between SLM rebels and Arab militia, but did not know to what extent the Arabs operated independently or for the government.
Other officials said the unrest was purely tribal.
The Maaliya were considered close to the SLM, but the government has been reportedly trying to woo them back to state allegiance by supplying money and guns over the last 18 months.
The UN-led peacekeeping mission said it had organised several tribal reconciliation meetings to resolve disputes over cattle and livestock, and not just between the Maaliya and the Zaghawa.
The current conflict in western Sudan broke out in 2003 when ”African” rebels took up arms against Khartoum and state-backed militias.
The violence has degenerated into a maze of fraying rebel groups, banditry, tribal conflict and flip-flopping militias.
The United Nations has said up to 300 000 people have died and more than 2,2-million have been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10 000. – Reuters