Uncertain calm prevailed on Monday in South Darfur, located in southwestern Sudan, after clashes last week. Conflicts between two opposing tribes left 36 dead and forty wounded, according to Sudan’s official agency Suna. Moussa Mahdi, the governor of the state of South Darfur, said joint forces were sent on Sunday to Oum Dafouk, the site of the conflict, located near the border with the Central African Republic. These forces were able to intervene to separate the two tribes.
The clashes pitted the African Fallata tribe against the Arab al Ta’aiysha tribe. A dispute over agricultural land was the cause of these clashes, according to the official body.
A witness on the spot reports that the al Ta’aiysha tribe attacked Marmosso. The Fallata tribe is said to have responded by attacking Madoa. Clashes whose consequences extended to Monjanlari are about 30 km from Oum Dafouk.
The local government has launched an inquiry into the responsibility for these new frequent clashes in the southern Darfur region for land, water and grazing.
The return of violence in Darfur is one of the many challenges facing the Sudanese Transitional Government. In April last year, 132 people died in tribal conflicts in West Darfur. In January, 250 others were also killed in similar clashes.
Since Minaud, the joint UN-African Union mission from Darfur, withdrew at the end of 2020, these clashes have escalated.
To combat the rise of violence in South Darfur, the governor recently ordered that anyone carrying a knife and any driver in an unregistered vehicle be fined. The fine is 100,000 Sudanese pounds for knitting, 300,000 for the vehicle.
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