News Desk
KHARTOUM: At least 11 people have been killed in clashes between ethnic groups in Sudan’s restive Darfur region, Sudan’s state media reported on Saturday.
Violence erupted on Wednesday in Nyala, the capital of Darfur state, pitting an ethnic group of herders against Daju minority farmers and other ethnic groups, eyewitnesses told state media.
The reason behind the clashes was not immediately clear.
“A group of herders riding vehicles and camels attacked the Amuri village on Friday, leaving four people killed as the site was burnt to ashes,” the state SUNA news agency reported. The agency reported that two people were killed during clashes on Thursday and Wednesday.
Ethnic groups’ clashes in Sudan
Another person was killed when the fighting extended to nearby villages, which were also “partially burnt” as shops were looted, the SUNA news agency added while quoting a government statement.
At least 20 injured persons were treated at Nyala hospital for bullet injuries, a medical source told a foreign news agency.
SUNA said that security forces were dispatched to the area to contain the violence.
Clashes between ethnic groups often break out in Darfur state, ravaged by a fierce civil war that erupted early in 2003.
That conflict pitted ethnic minority groups against the government of then-president Omar Al-Bashir.
According to the United Nations (UN), some 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced.
While the conflict has receded over the years, violence still flares between settled farmers and nomadic herders over access to scarce water resources and grazing land for cattle.
According to a report issued by the United Nations (UN) Office for the Humanitarian Affairs’ Coordination, conflicts in Sudan’s remote regions have killed nearly 900 people this year and driven around 300,000 from their homes.
