Eighteen dead as violence escalates in Sudan’s West Darfur: Medics

Tribal clashes in Sudan's restive Darfur have left at least 18 people dead and 54 others injured just months after a long-running peacekeeping mission ended operation in the region.

The Sudanese Doctors Committee said in a statement on Monday that the latest violence started between members of the Massalit tribe and Arab nomads in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur State, over the weekend and escalated throughout the city on Sunday and Monday morning.

According to residents and an internal UN security bulletin seen by Reuters, heavy weaponry and rocket-propelled grenades were used in the attacks. Pictures and videos from residents also showed plumes of smoke rising from the city's neighborhoods.

The renewed clashes come following a major flare-up of violence earlier this year in El Geneina. In January, at least 129 people were killed in the troubled region.  

Sudanese authorities imposed a state-wide curfew in West Darfur, while the Khartoum government dispatched a "high-profile" delegation to help contain the situation.

The attack came just weeks after UN peace-keepers began withdrawing from the region. 

On December 31, the hybrid United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) formally ended its operations in the region. It plans a phased withdrawal of its approximately 8,000 armed and civilian personnel inside six months. 

The Sudanese government said it "will take over responsibility for the protection of civilians" in Darfur as UNAMID’s mandate ended. 

People in Darfur protested the departure of the UN peacekeepers at the time, citing fears of renewed violence.

Brokering lasting peace in Darfur and other parts of Sudan is one of the main challenges facing military and civilian authorities sharing power following the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir last April.

Conflict broke out in Darfur in 2003 after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against Khartoum. Up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced, including more than 180,000 displaced in West Darfur, according to UN estimates.

Back then, the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum responded by recruiting and arming a notorious Arab-dominated militia known as the Janjaweed. The main conflict has subsided over the years but ethnic and tribal clashes still flare periodically, 

Sudan is undergoing a rocky political transitional after the ouster of Bashir in April 2019 triggered by mass protests against his rule. Bashir, who is currently in custody in Khartoum, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur perpetrated over a decade ago. 

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