A new escalation of violence shakes Darfur

A new wave of violence in the battered Darfur region of western Sudan has left at least 56 dead and 130 injured in the past four days.

The alarming deterioration of the situation, which is part of a worsening of conflicts between communities in the region over the last year, once again highlights Khartoum's inability to ensure peace and to guarantee the protection of civilians in the region. the area, one of the main promises of the Sudanese transitional government.

On this occasion, violence broke out in the fragile city of El Geneina, the capital of the West Darfur state, after "unknown men" shot members of the Massalit tribe on Saturday afternoon, killing two people and wounding another two, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

As a result of the assault, the constant tension between the Massalit and the Arab tribes in the area increased suddenly, and the respective groups began to mobilize.

Since then, armed militias have occupied several neighborhoods of the city and two camps for internally displaced persons, according to a statement from the organization that coordinates the camps for displaced persons and refugees in Sudan, which warns of the use of light and heavy artillery.

As of Tuesday, the West Darfur medical committee had tallied 56 dead and 132 injured, according to a statement released in the afternoon.

Facing the violence, the Sudan Security and Defense Council, headed by Abdelfatá Al Burhan, the president of the Sovereign Council, who acts as head of state during the transition (in April 2019 Omar al Bashir was overthrown after 30 years in power), declared a state of emergency in West Darfur at an emergency meeting on Monday, and authorized the regular forces to take "all necessary measures" to resolve the conflict, according to a statement.

However, the governor of West Darfur, Mohamed Abdalla El Douma, has assured EL PAÍS by telephone that the gesture is "only a continuation" of the previous situation, since the state of emergency had been in force since January.

• After a gang rape, the hashtag #Itsnotokay denounces sexual violence in Sudan

• Who should lead the fight for global justice?

The wave of violence comes after the mission of the African Union and the United Nations for the maintenance of peace in Darfur (Unamid, according to its acronym in English) officially ended its mandate in the region on December 31. After 13 years in service and despite the fact that his retirement generates great concern due to the instability that prevails in the area and the lack of reform of the security forces that have taken command.

Unamid, however, had already withdrawn from West Darfur in 2019. Likewise, the escalation also occurs more than six months after the peace accords signed between Khartoum and some rebel groups active in the region, but whose scope has been very questioned from the beginning by the locals.

El Geneina was still “out of control” on Tuesday, according to what Adam Rojal, a spokesman for internally displaced persons in Darfur, told EL PAÍS on WhatsApp.

Two refugee camps were "totally burned in the middle of the silence and the total complicity of the security services," according to the organization's statement.

Videos of the area broadcast on the networks show fires and dense smoke.

The Douma considered that "the situation is not good".

The West Darfur medical committee also denounced the lack of security in two hospitals and a clinic in the city, which "creates panic among workers and largely prevents the provision of treatment with the speed and effectiveness necessary."

In January, another serious wave of violence in El Geneina left more than 160 dead and 200 injured, most of them Massalit.

The central government ordered at that time the deployment of more troops in the area to control the situation, but since then most of these reinforcements have withdrawn, according to El Douma.

Rojal assures that the units that have remained in El Geneina have not intervened to protect civilians.

Since the beginning of this year, more than 180,000 new internally displaced persons have been registered in Darfur, mainly as a result of the events of January, representing the highest number of conflict-displaced persons in Sudan in the last six years, according to the Center for Internally Displaced Persons Tracking (IDMC), based in Geneva.

In just three days in January, the organization registered more displaced people than in all of 2020.