Tribal violence in Sudan's Darfur kills eight, including child: aid groups

Tribal violence between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region killed at least 8 people including a woman and a child, an aid worker and activists said Saturday.

The clashes erupted Thursday with the killing of two people by an unknown assailant around the Kreinik area of West Darfur province, said Adam Regal, the spokesman for the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur charity.

The following day, militias known as janjaweed attacked a camp for displaced people just to the south of Kreinik, burning down dozens of houses and forcing large numbers of people to flee.

The violence, which lasted till late Friday, also wounded 16 others, including three in critical condition, he said.

Sudan’s Darfur region has seen bouts of deadly clashes between rival tribes in recent months as the country remains mired in a wider crisis following last year’s coup, when top generals overthrew a civilian-led government.

In December, tribal clashes in Kreinik killed 88 people. Most recently, at least 45 people were killed in intercommunal violence in South Darfur province.

The years-long Darfur conflict broke out when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency in 2003, complaining of oppression by the Arab-dominated government in the capital, Khartoum.

The government of now-deposed strongman Omar Al-Bashir responded with a campaign of aerial bombings and raids by the janjaweed, which have been accused of mass killings and rapes. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes in Darfur over the years.