At least 45 people were killed in deadly clashes between rival groups in Sudan’s Darfur on Thursday, as tribal leaders reported that fighting persisted in the latest ethnic violence.
Officials reported that fresh fighting broke out on Tuesday between the ethnic Africa Fallata people and an Arab tribe in villages outside Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state.
“Fifteen people were killed in the fighting between the Fallata and Rizeigat tribes on Tuesday and 30 were killed on Wednesday,” the security committee of South Darfur state, a local government body, said in a statement.
Earlier, tribal leaders from Fallata and the Rizeigat said that the fighting has continued until Thursday. AFP reported that Women and children were among those killed in the fighting.
A medical source also said that around 20 wounded, some critically, were taken to nearby hospitals -AFP.
Sudan’s western restive Darfur region was ravaged by a bitter a civil war that erupted in 2003 and the conflict pitted ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against the Arab-dominated government of then-president Omar al-Bashir.
Then, Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, who were blamed for atrocities including murder, rape, looting and burning villages.
The scorched-earth campaign left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million, according to the United Nations.
The main conflict has subsided over the years, but the region remains awash with weapons and deadly clashes often erupt over access to pasture or water.
Earlier this month, separate clashes broke out among herders and farmers in the rugged mountainous region of Jebel Moon in West Darfur, leaving at least 35 people killed.
Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of houses torched in several bouts of violence in Jebel Moon, as well as elsewhere in Darfur in recent months, the United Nations and medics say.
The violence has reflected a broader security breakdown in Darfur following last year’s military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, that derailed a transition to full civilian rule.