New tribal conflict kills 33 in Sudan
Clashes between two tribes have broken out in Sudan, near the border with Ethiopia, leaving at least 33 people dead.
The UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, called for “concrete steps to move towards peaceful coexistence”, calling for “an end to reprisals”. (illustrative image)
AFP
Dozens of families fled the tribal conflict on Saturday, which in recent days has left at least 33 dead and dozens injured in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, bordering Ethiopia, according to local authorities.
At least 108 people have also been injured, according to a Health Ministry statement which said 16 shops have been burnt down since clashes erupted last Monday over a land dispute between the Hausa and Barti tribes in the district. from Qissan.
“We need troop reinforcements to regain control of the situation,” asked Adel Agar, from the municipality of al-Roseires, while doctors from the city’s hospital also called for reinforcements in the face of the growing number of injuries. According to Adel Agar, many people, including the injured, sought refuge in police stations. He was unable to give an assessment but pleaded for the rapid intervention of a mediator.
Curfew
Soldiers have been deployed and a curfew imposed from Saturday. A Hausa dignitary told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the conflict had degenerated because his clan had long called for “the formation of a local civil authority to oversee access to land, which the Bartis.
On the Barti side, a dignitary who also refused to have his name revealed, said his clan had responded “to a violation of Barti lands” by the Hausa. “These lands are ours, so if we want to form a local authority, it will be made up only of Bartis and not Hausa”, he hammered.
The violence, following a brief respite, resumed on Saturday near the local capital of al-Damazine. “We heard shots” and “saw columns of smoke rising,” Fatima Hamad, a resident of al-Roseires, told AFP. Al-Roseires is only separated from al-Damazine, the capital of the Blue Nile 800 kilometers south of Khartoum, by a bridge over the Nile.
“Stop Retaliation”
A resident of al-Damazine, Ahmed Youssef, claimed to have seen “dozens of families, especially women and children” crossing to flee the fighting. Nearby hospitals have issued an urgent appeal for blood donations and a source at al-Roseires hospital told AFP that the hospital has run out of first aid equipment.
The UN envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes called for “concrete steps to move towards peaceful coexistence”, calling for “an end to reprisals”. As of late Saturday, the situation was improving in Qissan while clashes continued in al-Roseires, Blue Nile Governor Ahmed al-Omda told state television.
The Blue Nile state has been plagued by rebellion since 1983. Southern guerrillas have long been a thorn in the side of the dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir, dismissed by the army under pressure from the streets in 2019 For experts, the security vacuum created by the putsch carried out in October by its former army commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, has favored a resurgence of tribal violence in a country where each year hundreds of civilians die in clashes between herders and farmers for access to water or land.
Posted today at 10:42 p.m.
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