Sudan violence: nearly 200 killed in Darfur, aid and medical groups say

Ethnic clashes are part of a larger security breakdown in the turbulent region and other parts of the country

Darfur, torn by a brutal civil war in the 2000s, has experienced an increase in violence over the past six months. Reuters

Nearly 200 people were killed at the weekend in clashes between rival ethnic groups in Sudan’s turbulent Darfur region, aid and medical groups said.

Dozens of others were wounded in the fighting, said the General Co-ordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, a local aid group.

On Monday, clashes broke out in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur and Sudan's westernmost city, according to residents. They said the fighting appeared to be between members of Janjaweed militias and rebel groups. Four people were killed, according to the medical groups.

Darfur, torn by a brutal civil war in the 2000s, has experienced an increase in violence in the six months since the military seized power in a coup. The deadly violence in the vast region is mainly caused by disputes between ethnic groups over land, water, livestock and grazing.

The war in Darfur began when rebels took up arms to redress what they saw as discrimination by the elite in northern Sudan. The war killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million, UN figures show.

A spokesman for the aid group, Adam Regal, also blamed the mainly Arab Janjaweed tribesmen for the recent bouts of violence and pillaging in the Krink region in West Darfur province.

The violence is part of a larger breakdown in security in Sudan after last October's coup. This dismissed a civilian-led government and ended a military-civilian partnership in a transitional administration that took office shortly after the 2019 ousting of dictator Omar Al Bashir.

The coup, which also derailed Sudan's democratic transition, plunged the country into its worst economic crisis in living memory and caused near-daily street protests against the generals’ rule. At least 90 people have been killed in the protests and close to 3,000 injured, drawing international condemnation of the use of deadly force by security forces.

The latest Darfur violence underscores the fragility of the peace deal signed in October 2020 between the government in Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups. Critics say the peace deal failed to tackle the root causes of conflict in Darfur. A vital part of the deal — integrating rebels into the armed forces — has yet to be introduced, they say.

"The continuing violence shows that the groups that signed the peace deal with the government have no real presence or influence on the ground," said Mudather Ahmed, a Sudanese expert on Darfur. "Failure to integrate the rebels into the armed forces turned them into bands of armed robbers."

Another expert, Ahmed Abeker, said the government's failure to restore ownership of land seized by armed groups during the conflict to its legitimate owners was contributing to the continuing violence.

"There will always be violence in Darfur so long as there is land held by people other than its actual owners," he said. "The conflict, on the other hand, has become an ethnic one par excellence, with large forced evictions and the torching of entire villages."

The fighting in Krink broke out on Friday when armed Janjaweed tribesmen attacked villages of the ethnic African Massalit tribe to avenge the deaths of two of its tribesmen, the Darfur aid group said.

On Sunday, the Janjaweed attacked the area again, killing and torturing residents, burning homes and forcing tens of thousands to flee.

“Today, Krink lost scores of dead and injured and, until this moment, the number of victims could not be counted,” the group said on Sunday.

Mr Regal separately told AFP that as many as 168 people were killed on Sunday.

“The Sudanese government failed to stop mass killings, raping, displacing people, burning, arrests and torture,” the group said. “The Sudanese government is in cohort with armed militias, supporting them with cash and hardware, and providing them with legal immunity.”

Three medical groups aligned with Sudan’s pro-democracy movement confirmed Sunday’s attack, saying bands of armed men in cars and on motorcycles left a “large number of residents killed or wounded”.

They said the attackers also raided the offices of the local government, the police headquarters and hospitals.

At least four people were killed in a gunfight near the area’s main hospital, prompting medical staff to flee the centre, the medical groups said. At least eight people were killed on Friday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross called on authorities to ensure the safe transport of the wounded to hospitals, while the UN special representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, condemned the killings. He also called for a “transparent and comprehensive” investigation into the violence.

“The UN reminds the authorities and armed groups of their international legal duties in protecting all civilians,” Mr Perthes’s office said.

Images posted online on Sunday showed burning houses with thick black smoke rising in the sky, while others showed round patches of scorched earth where huts had stood.

One image posted online showed dozens of bodies covered with sheets or blankets on the ground.

The Janjaweed gained notoriety in Darfur’s civil war for allegedly committing crimes against humanity and war crimes while fighting on the side of Al Bashir's government forces.

Al Bashir and several of his top aides are wanted by the International Criminal Court over their role in the Darfur conflict. Al Bashir was indicted a decade ago, charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ruling generals are believed to be reluctant to hand him over to the ICC to stand trial, fearing that his testimony before The Hague tribunal could incriminate them.

A general who hails from the Janjaweed militia, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, is now Sudan's second most senior general. He is the deputy chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council led by army chief and coup leader, Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan.

Gen Dagalo, a native of Darfur, is also commander of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary force into which a large number of the Janjaweed militia have been integrated.