Sudan: at least 150 killed in renewed interethnic violence

At least 150 people including children have been killed in two days of fighting in the latest ethnic clashes between members of the Hausa people and rival groups over land disputes in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state.
The fighting is some of the worst in recent months, and crowds took to the streets the state’s capital Damazin in protest, chanting slogans condemning a conflict that has left hundreds dead this year. Clashes broke out last week after reported arguments over land between members of the two ethic groups, with residents reporting hundreds fleeing intense gunfire and homes set ablaze. Eddie Rowe, the United Nations aid chief for Sudan, said he was “deeply concerned” at the latest communal violence in a region awash with guns bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia that reportedly led to “an unconfirmed 170 people [having] been killed and 327 [having] been injured“.
Last week, clashes in the same area of Blue Nile sparked by a dispute over land issues left at least 13 people dead and 24 injured, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Authorities in Sudan imposed an overnight curfew in a bid to contain the violence. The country is grappling with deepening political unrest and a spiraling economic crisis since last year’s military coup, led by army chief Abdel-Fattah Burhan. The military power grab upended a transition to civilian rule launched after the 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for three decades. A surge in ethnic violence in recent months has highlighted the security breakdown in Sudan since the coup.