Khartoum, Sudan - The African Union (AU) has urged feuding Sudanese tribal groups to cease the hostilities which have left dozens dead.
The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has expressed her “deepest concern at the resumption of fighting between Abbala and Beni Hussein tribes in El Sereif, North Darfur, which has caused a considerable number of casualties, and renewed suffering and displacement of the civilian population in the area,” the AU said in a statement received by PANA here Tuesday.
It pointed out that fighting between the two tribes first broke out on 5 January 2013 over control of the gold mining area in Jebel Amer.
Reports reaching Khartoum put the number of those killed and injured at 700, while official government report put the number of those killed at between 50 and 70, and those injured at over a hundred.
A Khartoum daily, Al Sudani, Tuesday quoted a tribal leader, Abdalla Shaikha of the Beni Hussein, as saying that over 750 were either killed or injured in the recent clash in the locality, describing the situation as “still serious and deteriorating”.
Meanwhile, the government in Khartoum said it had put in place security arrangements that have restored order.
Pana 26/02/2013