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At least 16 people have been killed following renewed tribal clashes in Sudan’s South Darfur region, with several villages and homes reportedly set ablaze, local sources told AFP on Monday.
Fighting broke out at the end of May between the Salamat and Beni Halba tribes in Kabum locality, southwest of Nyala, an area largely dependent on livestock farming.
A community leader in Kabum, Adel Ibrahim, said the violence began after one group allegedly set fire to pasture land, triggering confrontations that led to the killing of a herder before escalating into wider armed clashes between both communities.
“The conflict began when one group set fire to pasture grass, sparking confrontations that killed a herder. The armed clashes have since escalated between the two tribes,” Ibrahim, told AFP.
He said the situation quickly deteriorated as retaliatory attacks intensified across the area.
Both tribes are reported to have links with, and members within, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which controls the region amid its ongoing war with the Sudanese army.
The Darfur region has a long history of intercommunal violence, much of it resulting in mass casualties and displacement.
The latest clashes come as the RSF faces internal fractures, including reported defections of some field commanders to the Sudanese army.
The conflict in Sudan, now in its fourth year, has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced over 11 million, while pushing several regions into severe hunger and famine conditions.
