Tribes clash in west Sudan, up to 100 said dead

Feb 19, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Two tribes clashed over pasture in South Darfur state in western Sudan last week and a U.N. news bulletin cited a report that scores of people were killed.

“On 16 February, heavy fighting was reported between Targem and Rezegat Maharia (tribes) … Unconfirmed reports suggested that between 70 to 100 tribesmen were killed and 14 injured,” the bulletin of the U.N. Mission in Sudan said.

South Darfur Governor Al-Haj Atta al-Mannan Idris told Reuters on Monday that the clashes took place on Friday but did not give casualty figures.

He said a tribal reconciliation process, which usually takes around five days, had begun under the auspices of a third tribe.

“It’s clashes over pastures. The density of cattle and the lack of pasture and water turns friction into direct clashes,” the governor told Reuters.

The Rezegat Maharia are Arab-speaking nomads while the non-Arab Targem are sedentary farmers.

Darfur, an arid area the size of France, has been ravaged by violence since 2003, when rebels took up arms, accusing the government in Khartoum of ignoring the region.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has resisted pressure to authorise a deployment of 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers to support the 7,000-strong African Union mission in Darfur, saying the AU force was strong enough and the United Nations could give money and logistical help to a hybrid force.

Experts estimate 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes in four years of conflict in Darfur. Washington calls the violence genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use and Khartoum rejects.

(Reuters)