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Africa Horn
43 killed in clashes in Sudan's restive Darfur: UN
2021-11-26
[AlAhram] At least 43 people have been killed in days of fighting between herders in Sudan's western Darfur region that has also seen more than 1,000 homes set on fire, the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
said Thursday.

The violence broke out on November 17 between armed Arab herders
...we used to call them the Janjaweed, allied to the Sudanese government, but nowadays they’ve splintered into a number of groups and rebelled against the government. They still raid the Black farmers for fun and profit, despite both groups being convinced Muslims...
in the rugged Jebel Moon mountains close to the border with Chad, said Omar Abdelkarim, Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commissioner in West Darfur state.

"Initial reports indicate that at least 43 people have been killed, 46 villages have been burned and looted, and an unknown number of people were maimed due to ongoing fighting," according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

The majority of the 4,300 people affected by the violence have been displaced, it said.

Abdelkarim said some had fled west and were seeking safety across the border in Chad.

West Darfur governor Khamis Abdallah said the violence was sparked by "a dispute over camel looting", and that "military reinforcements have been sent to the area and the situation has stabilised".

The Jebel Moon mountain area is largely inhabited by communities of farmers and animal herders, with an estimated population of around 66,500 people.

Darfur was ravaged by a civil war that erupted in 2003, pitting ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against the Arab-dominated government of then president Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...
More than 300,000 people died and 2.5 million were displaced during the conflict, according to the UN.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide in Darfur, was ousted and locked away
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
in April 2019 after mass protests against his three-decade rule.

While the main conflict in Darfur has subsided, with a peace deal struck with key rebel groups last year, the arid region has remained awash with weapons and violence often erupts over land, access to agriculture or water.

A UN peacekeeping mission ended its mandate in Darfur last year.

The latest festivities come against a backdrop of political turbulence, as Sudan reels from the aftermath of a military coup last month that drew wide international condemnation and sparked mass protests.

On October 25, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan overthrew the country's post-Bashir transitional government and detained the civilian leadership.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was freed from effective house arrest and reinstated, after signing a deal with Burhan that was viewed by critics as "whitewashing" the military takeover.
Related:
Darfur: 2021-11-22 Sudan’s military agrees to reinstate ousted prime minister, teen shot dead in Sunday protests
Darfur: 2021-11-21 Death toll of Sudan protests rises to 40
Darfur: 2021-11-19 Fresh clashes rock Khartoum, following deadliest day of protests since Sudan coup
Related:
Jebel Moon: 2010-01-14 Sudan army clash with rebels in key Darfur area
Jebel Moon: 2008-02-21 'Thousands of Darfur refugees trapped by government offensive'
Jebel Moon: 2006-11-07 Sudan: Govt dismisses UN raids report
Posted by:trailing wife

#2  Very interesting regional assessment BC.
Posted by: Besoeker   2021-11-26 07:45  

#1  In the 1980a drought persisted in Darfur and Khartoum responded by initiating an extensive well-drilling program. It was similar to programs then being undertaken in Chad and drought-stricken Africa. In Darfur the well-drilling projects were both an ecological disaster and a political mistake. The deep wells attracted camel and cattle nomads who, in turn, began to invade the land settled by villagers and sedentary farmers dependent on seasonal rainfall. Ironically, the deep wells influenced villagers to herd goats and sheep, something few had bothered with before. In time a wide circle of overgrazed land surrounded the deep wells. Gazelle, rabbit and fox vanished. As drought continued pasturage for cattle and camel nomads was harder to find; competition for land led ineluctably to inter-tribal and inter-ethnic conflicts. The pattern of man against nature and tribe against tribe continues today in northern Darfur, and has even spread to the south.
Posted by: Bertie Crains2651   2021-11-26 07:17  

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