Scores Killed in Tribal Clashes in Darfur By ISMA’IL KUSHKUSH Published: November 18, 2013
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Nearly 200 members of two Arab tribes that signed a peace treaty in July were killed in fighting in southwest Darfur over the past three weeks, a local tribal chief said. Follow @nytimesworld<https://twitter.com/nytimesworld/nyt-foreign-journalists>for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors<https://twitter.com/#%21/nytimesworld/nytjournalists/members> “The total of dead from the past weeks of fighting has reached 139 from both sides,” said the tribal chief, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Add to that 53 who died Sunday night.” United Nations officials in the area confirmed the fighting between the two groups. “We have received information of fighting between the Salamat and the Messeiriya in the area of Umm Dukhun,” said Ashraf Eissa, a spokesman for the joint United Nations and African Union Mission in Darfur, known as Unamid. He said that the fighting had affected a displaced persons’ camp and some shelters, and that a "feeding center” run by nongovernmental organizations had been burned down. Joint Sudanese-Chadian forces that patrol the border between their two nations “disengaged the fighting tribesmen,” Mr. Eissa added. The tribal chief said, “Nine Sudanese soldiers were killed, and two Chadian soldiers were injured.” Agence France-Presse reported that Chadian soldiers had died during the clashes, but did not confirm how many. Sporadic fighting between members of the two tribes has led to the death of more than 200 since the beginning of the year. Intertribal clashes and fighting between rebels and government forces in the troubled Darfur region have led to the displacement of 460,000 people this year, the United Nations said last week. War broke out in Darfur 10 years ago, when mostly non-Arab rebel movements took up arms against the central government in Khartoum, accusing it of neglect and discrimination. United Nations officials say that 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict. On Sunday, forces from the Justice and Equality Movement, or JEM, a Darfur rebel group, entered the town of Abu Zabad in North Kordofan State, east of Darfur, and “swept government forces,” according to a JEM spokesman, Jibril Adam. “Tens of soldiers and officers were killed,” he said. Col. Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad, a spokesman for the Sudanese Army, said, however, that government forces had recaptured the town “and inflicted heavy losses and deaths” on the rebels. Fidail Rahooma, a deputy leader of the rebels, was killed, he said. This month, the Sudanese defense minister, Abdel-Rahim Hussein, vowed to rid the country of the rebellion during the coming dry season. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oqzoJmmL17DLpGvaDN-ZWvv0n4NhY%3D1inyZOCk2yWuXgQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
