Tribal violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region has displaced more than 1,800 people who have fled across the border into the nearby Central African nation of Chad in the past week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.
The majority of refugees are women, children and senior citizens who have fled villages near the border since the violence broke out on April 3, said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Some refugees have been forced to relocate several times after similar clashes killed more than 200 people two weeks after a joint peace mission to the region by the UN and the African Union (AU) ended in January.
“Refugees arriving in Chad speak of the destruction of their homes and property and targeted attacks on refugee sites,” Baloch said in a statement, describing the conditions in eastern Chad as “catastrophic”.
“Families live outdoors or take shelter under trees or in makeshift huts,” he said. “They have almost no protection against the elements in a region where temperatures regularly reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Farenheit) during the day,” he said.
The vast Darfur region was previously ravaged by a civil war that erupted in 2003, leaving some 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced, according to the United Nations.
A UN spokesman told reporters on Friday that the latest outbreak of violence between Massalit and Arab tribes in the western Darfur capital El Geneina when assailants shot dead two men from the Massalit tribe. In response, armed elements were mobilized from both sides.
The Massalites are mainly farmers, while the Arab tribes are mainly shepherds, with violence and division rooted in disputes over land, pastures and water resources, according to the UN.
The UN said it was “appalled” by the resurgence of violence and said all tribes responsible for the bloodshed must be disarmed, and the Human Rights Office called for an independent inquiry.
.
