Authorities are enforcing a night curfew in Wad al-Mahi and deploying soldiers to contain the violence.
The death toll from days of tribal fighting in South Sudan has risen to at least 220, making this one of the deadliest episodes of ethnic violence in recent years.
Fighting in Blue Nile province, which borders Ethiopia and South Sudan, flared up again this month over a land dispute. It pits the Hausa people, who have their origins throughout West Africa, against the Berta community.
Tensions escalated in the town of Wad al-Mahi on the border with Ethiopia on Wednesday and Thursday. The unrest added to the suffering of a country mired in civil war and political chaos.
Blue Nile Department of Health director-general Fath Arrahman Bakheit said Sunday officials had counted at least 220 dead. He said the number could be much higher as medical teams were unable to reach the epicenter of the fighting.
Bakheit said the first humanitarian and medical convoy reached Wad al-Mahi late Saturday to assess the situation, including counting the “huge body count” and dozens of wounded.
“Everyone loses in clashes like this,” he said. “We hope it ends soon and never happens again, but we need strong political, security and civilian interventions to achieve that goal.”
Footage from the crime scene showed burned houses and charred bodies. Others showed women and children fleeing on foot.
“Take a neutral stance”
Many houses were burned during the fighting, displacing about 7,000 people who fled to the town of Rusyaris. Others have gone to neighboring provinces, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
A total of about 211,000 people have been displaced by tribal violence and other attacks across the country this year, it said.
The authorities ordered a night curfew in Wad al-Mahi and deployed soldiers to the area. They also set up an investigative committee to investigate the fighting, state news agency SUNA reported.
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said people were unhappy with the government’s response.
“People are calling for the region’s governor to resign over the way the situation was handled,” Morgan said.
“They say that the security forces were not impartial and that some of them took sides in the conflict,” she said. “They are demanding that the security forces adopt a neutral stance and end the violence.”
Fighting between the two groups first broke out in mid-July and killed at least 149 people by early October. It sparked violent protests and fueled tensions between the two ethnic groups in Blue Nile and other provinces.
The latest fighting comes at a critical time for Sudan, just days before the first anniversary of a military coup that has plunged the country further into turmoil.
The coup ended the country’s short-lived transition to democracy after nearly three decades of repressive rule under Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown by a popular uprising in April 2019.
In recent weeks, the military and the pro-democracy movement have been holding talks to find a way out of the situation. The generals agreed to allow civilians to nominate a prime minister to lead the country through elections within 24 months, the pro-democracy movement said last week.
The violence in Blue Nile is likely to slow such efforts. Protest groups opposed to the deal with the ruling generals are preparing for anti-military demonstrations on Tuesday, the anniversary of the coup.