News / Sudan

170 killed in two days of fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile

Thursday, 20 October 2022 6:38 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 20 October 2022 6:38 PM ]

The undated photo purportedly shows ethnic clashes in Sudan.

At least 170 people have been killed and dozens injured in two days of fighting in the latest ethnic clashes in Sudan's southern state of Blue Nile.

Medical sources said on Thursday those killed included women and children with signs of bullet wounds, burning, and stabbing. 86 people were also wounded.

The fighting has centered around the Wad al-Mahi area near Roseires, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital Khartoum.

Clashes in Sudan's troubled Blue Nile broke out last week after a reported dispute over land between members of the Hausa people and rival groups.

Residents on Wednesday reported intense gunfire and houses set on fire.

The state had seen tribal clashes over land disputes in July, and a flare-up in September, resulting in 149 people killed and almost 65,000 displaced by early October.

The UN mission in Sudan said it was "alarmed" by the "resurgence of conflict" in Blue Nile, a region awash with guns bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Despite a peace deal signed in 2020 with some of Sudan’s rebel groups in the western Darfur region and in Blue Nile and southern Kordofan, tribal fighting has steadily increased.

Analysts blame the fighting on unresolved issues of land and citizenship as well as the militarization of tribal groups.

The violence threatens to further destabilize the African country, which has been in political and economic turmoil since last year's military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The military power grab upended a transition to civilian rule launched after the 2019 ouster of long- time President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for three decades.

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