A humanitarian group reports that 12 deaths were caused by tribal clashes in Sudan’s Darfur

CAIRO (AP) — Tribal violence in Sudan’s long-restive region of Darfur killed at least 12 people over the past few days, an aid group said Sunday.

Adam Regal, spokesperson for the General Coordination of Refugees and Displaced People in Darfur, stated that the clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the Beleil region in South Darfur province left at least 42 people injured.

Local authorities claimed that one person died in clashes caused by herdsmen trying to take a motorized bicycle known as a Tuk-tuk from the village of Amouri. On Thursday and Friday, fighting escalated when local herdsmen engaged in a brawl.

To stop clashes, authorities declared a state-of-emergency in Beleil on Saturday.

Regal stated that 12 people were killed in fighting by the aid group, but the actual number could be much higher. Regal said that many villages were destroyed or looted in the region.

He said that hundreds of families fled the conflict and sought refuge in Nyala (the provincial capital of South Darfur).

In Darfur, violence has been a constant problem in recent months. In Central Darfur, 48 people were killed in tribal clashes on November 28.

The sprawling region was engulfed in bloodshed in 2003 when rebels from the territory’s ethnic central and sub-Saharan African community launched an insurgency accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of discrimination and neglect.

Under President Omar al-Bashir’s leadership, the government responded with an aerial bombardment of scorched-earth bombings. It also unleashed nomadic Arab militias known locally as Janjaweed who are accused of mass murders and rapes. 300,000. People were killed, and 2.7 million people were forced from their homes.