Ethnic violence 'kills 100' in Sudan's Darfur

Intense tribal battles have flared again this month in southwestern Darfur, with 100 people reported dead in the most recent conflict.

Sudanese forces in Western Darfur

File. (AAP)

Heavy fighting in a border region of Sudan's Darfur has killed 100 people, state radio reported on Saturday, while another source said Chadian soldiers were among the recent dead.

"The number of casualties has grown to 100" after battles between the Misseriya and Salamat tribes, Radio Omdurman said in a brief bulletin sent by SMS.

The dispatch did not say what period its toll covered, but intense battles between the two groups have flared again in southwestern Darfur.

Radio Omdurman said fighting had stopped but a Misseriya leader told AFP battles continued on Saturday around southwest Darfur's Umm Dukhun town, with more than 50 killed on both sides.

Chadian troops in a joint force with Sudan were among those killed in recent fighting, a humanitarian source said on Saturday.

The source did not know how many Chadians died in Thursday's fighting with Salamat tribesmen around Umm Dukhun, on the border with Chad.

Soldiers from Chad and Sudan have co-operated to jointly patrol their border region since ties between the two countries began to improve in 2010.

Off-and-on clashes between the Salamat and a rival Arab tribe, the Misseriya, had already killed more than 200 people since April in southwestern Darfur.

In Thursday's incident, the Salamat attacked Umm Dukhun and a camp for displaced people on its outskirts, in what the source called a "big battle".

"They were eventually repulsed by the mixed Chad-Sudan forces, and pushed into Chad where the forces chased them for a while," the source said.

During the pursuit some of the Chadians were killed, "most likely inside Chadian territory", the source said, adding that Salamat casualties were apparently heavy.

Tribal violence and rebel-government battles have displaced at least 460,000 people in Sudan's Darfur this year, the United Nations said on Thursday.

And Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein said last week that violence between the various tribes had eclipsed rebel activity as Darfur's main security threat.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world