Tribal clashes over several days killed 25 people in southern Sudan, the country’s doctors union said on Wednesday, raising fears the war between the country’s rival top generals — currently centred in the capital — could set off more violence in far-flung provinces.
It remained unclear whether the tribal clashes were related to the brutal fighting that ignited mid-April across the country as a result of a power struggle between the military’s head, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands a powerful paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.
The tribal violence in the south erupted Monday between the Hausa and Nuba tribes in the city of Kosti, the capital of White Nile province bordering South Sudan, according to Sudanese local media reports.
Deadly tribal violence is not uncommon in Sudan’s south and west, where disputes dating back to the country’s split from South Sudan remain unresolved. The country’s wider conflict has so far claimed the lives of more than 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands. The violence has also spread to other regions, namely the restive Darfur province. Last month, armed fighters, many in RSF uniforms, rampaged through the city of Genena in West Darfur killing at least 100 people.
