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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Tribal violence escalates into rebellion in western Sudan |
| 2003-03-03 |
| Thirteen people have been killed and 12 others wounded in clashes between armed tribesmen and government forces that began Wednesday in the province of Darfur, 1,800 kilometers west of the capital Khartoum. The casualty toll could not be independently confirmed Friday, the Muslim sabbath. "These militias have used mortars and rocket-propelled grenades," police Gen. Sidiq Mohammed Ahmed in Nyala, Darfur, said. The government said "important security breaches are currently taking place" in the mountainous Jebel Mara area of Darfur. But the government denied reports that armed men had taken over a town in Jebel Mara. Tribes have been fighting each other for years in Darfur, a province that is home to a fifth of Sudan's 30 million people and one of the least developed. The clashes are believed to have begun as tribes competed for grazing land. This week's fighting broke out a day after the end of a government-sponsored conference of tribal elders in el-Fasher, Darfur. The state had brought the chiefs together in a bid to quell the violence. That worked well, didn't it? SUNA quoted the governor of northern Darfur, Gen. Ibrahim Suleiman, as saying Thursday that "reconciliation committees are touring areas that have seen a deterioration in security." Suleiman said that in one incident last week an armed group raided a police station and stole firearms. The group then ambushed the soldiers who pursued it, killing and wounding some of them, SUNA reported. Sudan might have the best of intentions, but they're real crummy on execution... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |