More than 200 people have been killed in violent clashes in the Sudanese region of Darfur in recent days. According to the regional government on Wednesday, at least 213 people were killed in three days. “I am shocked,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. She called for “impartial and independent” investigations into the attacks.
Violence erupted on Friday when armed fighters from Arab tribes attacked villages of Massalit, an African ethnic minority. It was apparently in retaliation for the killing of two tribesmen. Initially, the focus was on the Krink region, about 80 kilometers from El Geneina, capital of the West Darfur region. On Wednesday night, Adam Regal, a representative of a local aid organization, also reported violent shootings in El-Geneina itself.
More than 1,000 fighters from the Riseigat Arab tribe have invaded the town of Krink, which has a population of 500,000, according to the UN. They attacked hospitals, destroyed a police station and set fire to a market. According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), medical workers were also killed. After the violence, the UN suspended food aid to more than 60,000 people in the region.
No sign of government troops
The city “was completely destroyed, including government facilities,” said West Darfur Governor Chamis Abkar. Abkar accused government forces of withdrawing “without any justification” when the attacks began on Sunday.
The UN Security Council in New York held a closed-door session on the crisis on Wednesday. “I am concerned that serious incidents of inter-community violence, with many victims, will continue to occur in this region,” said Bachelet.
The militia’s long shadow
Eyewitnesses blamed the recent attacks on the Janjaweed militia. The militia is known for its involvement in the violent suppression of an ethnic minority rebellion in Darfur in early 2003. Many of its members were later integrated into the troops of Sudan’s deputy head of state, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
In 2020, the most important rebel groups in Darfur signed a peace agreement. The UN and the African Union then ended the Unamida peace mission at the request of the Sudanese government. However, according to the UN, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of homes burned in various outbreaks of violence in recent months.
The latest violence is linked to the general collapse of the security situation in Darfur following last year’s military coup by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the interim government. That dashed hopes for an orderly transition to a purely civilian government after longtime head of state Omar al-Bashir was ousted in 2019.
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