Daily Times

Clashes between Arab tribesmen and ethnic minority farmers in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region have killed eight people and wounded 16, an aid group said on Saturday. The fighting broke out on Friday in Krink, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the West Darfur state capital of Geneina, when armed Arab tribesmen attacked villages of the non-Arab Massalit minority in retaliation for the killing of two tribesmen, the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, an independent aid organisation, said. The clashes “led to the deaths of eight citizens,” said its spokesman Adam Regal. Dozens of homes were burned and large numbers of families displaced, he added. Rzeigat tribal leaders said the fighting was sparked by the killing of two Arab tribesmen on Thursday by gunmen who took refuge in Massalit villages. The aid group accused the Janjaweed of orchestrating the attack on the Massalit villages. The mainly Arab militia, many of whose members have since been integrated into the security forces, gained notoriety in the early 2000s for its role in the repression of an ethnic minority rebellion in Darfur.