Tribal clashes in Darfur have left at least 11 people dead in this vast region of western Sudan ravaged by conflict, a medical source said on Saturday.
Clashes broke out on Wednesday between pastoral Arab tribes and African tribes in a township near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, witnesses said.
The origin of the clashes could not be immediately established.
“The number of bodies arriving at the hospital has reached 11,” a medical source at Nyala hospital told AFP.
But the death toll “is probably much higher as the fighting continues,” said Adam Regal, spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced Persons in Darfur.
The official Suna news agency had previously reported seven deaths.
Men “on camels and motorbikes launched an attack on the village of Amouri, the latter was set on fire and four people were killed”, the agency said, adding that two other people were killed on Wednesday and Thursday.
Another person was killed and the conflict spread to neighboring villages, many of which are “partially burnt down” and their businesses “looted”, according to the agency, citing a government statement.
Security forces were dispatched to the area to contain the violence, the agency said.
Separately, hundreds of protesters gathered against the violence outside a government building in Nyala, witnesses said.
An agreement signed earlier this month between the ruling military and civilian groups meant to get the country out of a year-long political crisis was met with skepticism as it was deemed “vague” and “opaque” by analysts and pro-democracy activists.
Since the coup by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane in October 2021, tribal conflicts have exploded due to the security vacuum created by the coup, experts say.
A 2003 war in Darfur between the Arab-majority regime of Omar al-Bashir and rebels from ethnic minorities denouncing discrimination left at least 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced, mainly during the first years of the conflict. , according to the UN.
Mr. Bashir, now in prison, was ousted in 2019 under pressure from the street and the army.
Darfur remains regularly shaken by violence, especially between rival tribes. They are caused, among other things, by territorial disputes and difficulties in accessing water.