from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – A flare-up of ethnic violence has left more than 80 people dead in the West Darfur State of Sudan in recent days.
No less than 160 others have been injured in the skirmishes at a camp housing displaced citizens.
The militancy is reportedly a revenge act from a tribal group aggrieved by violence that erupted at the end of 2019 at Krinding camp.
Armed men from the Arab tribes are blamed for the latest round of bloodshed after an attack on the Massalit clan.
“The death toll from the bloody events in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur State, has increased since Saturday morning, to 83 dead and 160 wounded,” the West Darfur Doctors Committee stated.
Security personnel are accused of laxity during the attacks.
The violence coincides with the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers, deployed in 2007 under the UN-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
UNAMID’s mandate concluded at the end of 2020.
Full withdrawal is to be completed by June 30 this year.
Government’s Security and Defence Council has reinforced security in West Darfur.
A curfew has been imposed but the West Darfur Doctors Committee lamented it was impacting on the movement of medical personnel.
Darfur is synonymous with violence, which peaked in 2003 after an uprising by militia groups.
A comprehensive peace agreement was signed in August 2020 in Juba, South Sudan.
– CAJ News