CAIRO, KHARTOUM: Tribal clashes in eastern Sudan killed at least nine people over the past two days, Sudanese activists said on Saturday, in another bout of violence that threatens to derail peace talks in a country marred by decades-long civil wars.
Sudan’s transitional government launched negotiations with different rebel groups in October, in neighboring South Sudan’s capital, Juba. The peace initiative is part of a plan to bring free elections to the country.
The fighting in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea province, grew out of a fist-fight between two people that ended with one stabbed to death, the Sudan Doctors Committee said, leading to his arrest.
Around 100 others were wounded in the clashes, the group said.
Officials said security forces were deployed in the city to help contain the clashes between the Bani Amer tribe and the displaced Nuba tribe. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Port Sudan was the scene of similar clashes between the two tribes in August, killing at least three dozen people. The tribal dispute started in May over water resources in the eastern city of Al-Qadarif, where seven people were killed.
Tribal clashes also erupted in the western Darfur region last week. The clashes in West Darfur’s town of Genena has left at least 65 people dead and more than 50 injured, as well as displacing thousands, an international peacekeeping mission said on Friday.
The intercommunal clashes that erupted on Dec. 29 were the worst in West Darfur for years.
The violence presents a challenge to military and civilian authorities sharing power following the overthrow of former President Omar Bashir last April. They are trying to broker lasting peace in Darfur and other parts of the country affected by civil conflict.
The joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur, UNAMID, said on Friday it was deeply concerned by the “deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in el-Geneina and the surrounding area.”
Conflict spread in Darfur in 2003 after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against Khartoum. government forces and mainly Arab militia, which moved to repress the revolt, and were accused of widespread atrocities.
