South Darfur: 36 dead, dozens injured in clashes in tribal clashes | Middle East News

Officials said military forces were deployed to resolve the conflict between the Fallata and Taisha tribes.

At least 36 people have been killed and dozens injured in clashes between Arab and non-Arab tribes in southern Darfur over the weekend.

Witnesses said they started on Saturday between the Taisha Arabs and the Fallata ethnic tribes of Africa in the remote Um Dafuq area of ​​southern Darfur.

The official SUNA news agency said calm had been restored by Monday.

“Military forces to resolve the conflict between the Fallata and Taisha tribes, which left 36 thousand and 32 wounded, were deployed to the conflict zones,” SUNA reported on Sunday, a statement from South Darfur officials.

It was not immediately clear what caused the clashes, but similar fights are often erupting over land and water in the Darfur region.

Neighbor Eissa Omar of Um Dafuq told AFP news agency that “we heard the sound of heavy weapons throughout the fight” which began on Saturday and continued on Sunday.

The vast region of Darfur, located in western Sudan, has experienced a similar wave of violence in recent months.

In April, at least 132 people were killed in fighting between members of the Massalit tribe and Arab communities in western Darfur, and authorities were forced to establish a state of emergency.

In January, new clashes between Arab and non-Arab tribes in the western and southern Darfur regions killed more than 250 people.

The violence occurred while Sudan was navigating a rocky transition after ousting longtime President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 following mass protests against his rule.

The transitional government installed after Bashir was ousted has been working to end long-running internal conflicts in Darfur.

He signed a peace deal with several key rebel groups in October and is currently in talks to secure peace with the other two adhering groups.

It seems that the recent violence in Darfur did not involve the signatory of the October peace agreement.

On 31 December, a hybrid peacekeeping mission of the United Nations and the African Union ended operations in Darfur.

Darfur was a fierce conflict in 2003, when the Khartoum government pitted the rebels of African ethnic minorities against Bashir-backed Arab nomads.

The deadly conflict – which killed about 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million – has diminished over the years but inter-ethnic clashes have still erupted from time to time.