Death Toll on the Rise in Ongoing West Darfur Violence

The death toll from ongoing tribal clashes in Kulbus locality, West Darfur, has risen to 49 after six people were killed and a village burned.

The clashes erupted after a dispute over agricultural lands. It then escalated to include a number of villages and the occupation of a water wells. Eight villages were burnt to the ground in the first two days of the clashes, Abakar El Tom, head of the Gamar tribe, told Radio Dabanga.

The Deputy Executive Director of Kulbus locality, Abbas Mustafa, said in an interview with the Sudan Today programme on Radio Dabanga last week that gunmen attacked the villages of Um Rukeina, Wari, Ray, and Beit Arbaa, on Wednesday morning.

Mustafa told Radio Dabanga that a joint force of army soldiers, policemen, paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Central Reserve Police (Abu Teira) was ambushed by herdsmen while they were moving to the site of the clashes. He said additional reinforcements were deployed to the conflict areas on Tuesday evening but did not arrive until Wednesday afternoon.