Sudan official: Tribal clashes kill at least 10 in Darfur

CAIRO (AP) — Tribal clashes in Sudan’s western Darfur region killed at least 10 people Wednesday, a senior security official said, the latest bout of violence in the restive region.

The clashes in the town of Saraf Omra in North Darfur province pitted the Arabized Fur tribe against the Tama tribe over a piece of land, said Maj. Gen. Yahia Mohammed al-Nour, the top police official in the province.

He said at least 32 others were wounded in the clashes. Security forces arrested a number of suspects and authorities imposed a curfew in the town, he said.

Tribal violence in Darfur and other areas of Sudan is a major challenge to the transitional government that has ruled the country since a popular uprising led the military to overthrow longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The clashes came two months after the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force that had been in Darfur for a decade ended its mandate. The force, known as UNAMID, handed over its facility in Saraf Omra to the Sudanese government in January, part of its drawdown process.

A bout of tribal clashes in January in West Darfur and South Darfur killed around 470 people, according to the United Nations and local officials. The clashes displaced more than 120,000 people, mostly women and children.