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JEDDAH: Sudan’s transitional government ordered a heavy deployment of troops into the Darfur region on Tuesday to quell three days of tribal conflict in which at least 155 people died and tens of thousands were forced to flee their homes.
The fighting began on Saturday between nomadic tribesmen and members of the Massalit ethnic group in El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.
At least 100 people died, more than 130 were injured and up to 50,000 people fled areas in and around the Kerindig camp for internally displaced people. Authorities in West Darfur imposed a statewide curfew as troops arrived from Khartoum and other parts of Sudan to restore order.
“There have been no clashes since Sunday, but there were incidents of looting, especially of houses and farms of people living at the Kerindig camp,” state governor Mohamed Abdalla Al-Douma said. “The situation is calm in the state as security forces have spread in and around the city of El-Geneina and Kerindig.”
Douma said houses were burned and farm produce stolen in villages near El-Geneina, but “we sent security to surround these villages and they are now secure.”
Separate clashes in South Darfur between the Fallata ethnic group and the Rizeigat tribe killed at least 55 people and injured 37. A heavy troop presence has also restored order there.
“The situation is calm today in our village in South Darfur. There are no clashes,” tribal leader Mohamed Saleh said. “But people are tense, they fear the renewed outbreak of violence.”
Among those killed in West Darfur was Sayid Ismail Baraka, a US citizen from the southern state of Georgia whose family fled the conflict that devastated Darfur in 2003.
His brother, Usumain, said Sayid had been visiting family in El-Geneina when violence broke out. “He was shot and killed in front of his family by militants who entered his home,” Usumain said.
The 2003 conflict in Darfur killed about 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. It began when ethnic minority rebels rose up against dictator Omar Bashir, who responded by unleashing a notorious militia known as the Janjaweed.
Bashir was ousted in April 2019 and Sudan has been in a fragile transition ever since, with a stand-in government trying to stabilise the conflict-torn south and west. Bashir himself is on trial over the Islamist-backed 1989 coup that brought him to power.
The latest violence came after the joint UN- African Union peacekeeping mission ended its 13 years of operations in Darfur on Dec. 31, and began a phased withdrawal of its 8,000 armed and civilian staff.
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