Darfur is once again the focus of tribal revolts
Darfur was once again the scene of tribal violence this weekend, between members of the Arab Falata tribe and the African Masalet tribe in the Gereida Valley in South Darfur, a police officer in the city of Gereida told Efe and asked not to be identified.
This incident takes place less than a week before the date set by the UN for the withdrawal of its peace mission in Darfur, UNAMID, a decision which has been welcomed by the Khartoum authorities but criticised by thousands of displaced persons who still live in refugee camps in the region.
Darfur suffered a bloody civil war between 2003 and 2008, in which the confrontation between the population of African origin and the Arab tribes left more than 300,000 dead, according to the UN. This is why in 2007 this organisation created UNAMID, after armed groups took up arms against the central government in protest at the poverty and marginalisation suffered by the inhabitants of the region, the scene of a bloody conflict
However, on Saturday thousands of displaced people demonstrated in the two main camps in the area against the withdrawal of UNAMID, believing that the government is not capable of stopping the violence in the area.
The demonstrators are demanding that the Sudanese government and the UN Security Council reverse the withdrawal of the joint UN-African Union mission, which has been deployed in Darfur since the conflict that bloodied the region between 2003 and 2008.
Some 8,000 people demonstrated in Kalima camp in South Darfur state and another 5,000 in Abu Shuk camp in North Darfur, the two largest camps in the region, chanting slogans such as "no peace and security without UNAMID".
Adam Reyal, spokesman for the coordination between the camps for displaced persons and refugees in Darfur, told Efe by telephone from Kalima that the residents of "155 camps for displaced persons in the region and 20 camps for refugees in Chad and the Central African Republic protested against the termination of the UNAMID mission".
The two sides, which had reached a conciliation agreement last October, faced gunfire and had to be separated by the intervention of the security forces in the area.
Two of the dead belonged to the Falata, while five were killed and over 20 injured by the Masalet.
West Darfur also suffered from violence this weekend as a result of riots following the death of a university student on Saturday in the town of Al Yeneina.
Al Yeneina Governor Adam Ezaldin told Efe that ten citizens were injured and two others are missing.