Ethnic Clashes in Darfur Leave at Least 200 Dead

The Sudanese TV channel reports at least 200 dead in local clashes in Darfur. The clashes took place this August 11 and 12 between tribal factions.

Related:
Sudan: Clashes Intensify in the Capital

The confrontation between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has spread its devastating effects by polarizing the country's tribal communities, reinforcing historical disputes that have existed between them, with their current support for one military force or the other.

The ethnic groups that clashed were the Salamat and the Habaniya or Bani Halba. These tribes already have their own conflicts over access to scarce resources in the area. In this case the dispute was related to cattle rustling, which is a frequent occurrence between tribes, and is now encouraged by the military forces as a way of adding local conflicts to their military and political strategies.

There is an ethnic background to the way tribes join or recognize the legitimacy of the fighting forces. Most of the Arab tribes in Darfur support the Rapid Support Forces, although there are tribes such as the Salamat who mistrust the paramilitaries.

For ethnic Africans, the RSF represent the return of the ethnic cleansing campaign that took place in the last Darfur war in 2003. Many identify the RSF as followers of the legacy of the dreaded Janjaweed militias. The Janjaweed, or Armed Riders, was a military instrument of the government that plagued settlements of African villagers during the Darfur war (2003-2008).

Parallel to the clash between the tribes, in other areas of Darfur, according to eyewitnesses, heavy weapons were used, especially in Nyala, the political and administrative center of the area. At least 12 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to local sources, in what has been the upsurge of clashes in the five states of the region, in the west of the country.

The Sudanese media also reported that at least 30 people had been killed and other 50 were injured between Wednesday and Friday alone in two areas of South Darfur, Aad al Fursan and Kabum, although it anticipated that the actual number of casualties was likely to be much higher.

In this context, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on August 1 that more than three million people were displaced in Sudan due to the conflict between the RSF and the army.

Today, August 15, the Vatican Secretary of State is carrying out a four-day visit to Sudan, in solidarity with the Malakal region, but he is taking advantage of the visit to reaffirm the peace efforts that still survive in these circumstances in certain social and political sectors of the country.