150 killed in Two Days of Land Clashes in Sudan
In the most recent ethnic conflicts brought on by land disputes in Sudan's southern Blue Nile state, at least 150 people have died in two days of fighting, a physician reported on Thursday.
150 killed in Two Days of Land Clashes in Sudan
In the most recent ethnic conflicts brought on by land disputes in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state, at least 150 people have died in two days of fighting, a physician reported on Thursday.
Crowds protested in the streets of Damazin, the capital of the Blue Nile state, with slogans decrying warfare that has claimed hundreds of lives this year. The fighting is among the bloodiest in recent months.
Last week, fighting broke out along Sudan’s turbulent Blue Nile after reports of disputes over land between Hausa and opposing factions.
The Wad al-Mahi region near Roseires, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital Khartoum, has been the focal point of the conflict. On Wednesday, locals reported hearing a lot of shooting and seeing burning homes.
According to Abbas Moussa, the director of Wad al-Mahi hospital, “150 persons in total, including women, children, and elderly people, were slain between Wednesday and Thursday.” “The violence also resulted in the injuries of about 86 people.”
Hundreds marched through Damazin on Thursday, some of them demanding the removal of the state governor, according to witnesses.
The protesters shouted, “No, no to violence.”
‘Alarmed’
The “resurgence of fighting” in Blue Nile, a gun-filled area bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia that is still attempting to recover from decades of civil war, frightened the UN mission in Sudan.
Since the military coup headed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan last year, Sudan has been dealing with worsening political instability and an escalating economic crisis.
After Omar al-Bashir, a strongman who reigned for thirty years, was overthrown in 2019, a transition to civilian administration was put into motion. The military power grab threw that into disarray.
The UN said, “Sustainable peace won’t be feasible without an effective, credible administration that prioritizes the needs of local people, including security, and deals with the underlying causes of violence.
The breakdown in security in Sudan after the coup has been brought to light by an increase in ethnic violence in recent months.
Across the nation from January to September, intercommunal confrontations resulted in over 546 fatalities and more than 211,000 house displacements, according to the UN.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there were conflicts last week in the same Blue Nile region that were “caused by a dispute over land problems,” which resulted in at least 13 fatalities and 24 injuries.
To stop the violence, the authorities enacted an evening curfew.
A forced exodus of thousands
According to a toll provided by OCHA, fighting between the Hausa people and other groups started in July and continued into early October, resulting in 149 fatalities and 124 injuries.
After Hausa citizens asked for the establishment of a “civil authority,” which different factions perceived as a means of getting access to land, violence broke out in July.
The skirmishes also sparked irate demonstrations across Sudan, with the Hausa community calling for justice for those who were killed.
Senior commanders decided to end hostilities by the end of July. Conflicts erupted once more in September.
Violence between the Nuba and Arab Misseriya factions erupted earlier this week in West Kordofan, also in the south of Sudan, about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southwest of Khartoum.
According to the UN, the government’s Humanitarian Aid Commission said that conflict resulted in 19 deaths, 34 injuries, and 36,500 people fleeing the violence.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ two wounded members were hit by shelling in Lagawa on Tuesday, according to the army, which blamed a stubborn rebel group.
