Latest outbreak of tribal violence in Darfur now leaves 105 dead
The latest outbreak of tribal violence in Darfur, an area of western Sudan, which broke out last Thursday between the Hausa and Berber ethnic groups in the southeast of the country, has left 105 people dead so far, local authorities said Tuesday, while protests by the Hausa continue in other parts of the country, which left three more dead on Monday.
The director of Emergency Control and Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health in Blue Nile State, Omar Adam Omar, said in a statement that the death toll as of Tuesday morning in this region of the country, bordering Ethiopia, was 105 dead and 225 injured.
The figure only includes cases that reached hospitals in the region, without specifying whether there might be more unregistered dead, and that among the injured were 20 in critical condition who have been transferred to Khartoum for treatment, the official said.
The outbreak of tribal violence, which followed the death of a farmer in unclear circumstances, is the result of disputes between the Hausa and Berta over issues related to the administration's leadership of the Blue Nile region.
Meanwhile, protest demonstrations have continued in other parts of the country since Monday by members of the Hausa tribe, which has a presence in much of the country and has suffered the highest number of casualties in the Blue Nile clashes.
Some 3,000 people took part in a demonstration in Khartoum today from the southern suburbs of the capital towards the Presidential Palace in the city centre in protest against the tribal violence and clashes with police on the avenue leading to the airport.
Officers used tear gas and sound bombs against the demonstrators, who complained about the slow response of the security forces and alleged that influential people in the state had caused the violence in the Blue Nile region for political purposes, according to witnesses.
Similar demonstrations had already taken place in several cities across the country on Monday, particularly in Kasala (east), where three people were killed and 15 injured by gunfire and where Hausa set fire to several markets, shops and government buildings.
Violent clashes between the myriad tribes that inhabit Sudan are commonplace, although these outbreaks have increased in recent months amid the severe economic and political crisis, the latter triggered by a military coup last October that interrupted a democratic transition process launched in 2019.
