Sudan .. Brawl turns into tribal battles in West Darfur and armed movements criticize the government

Ahmed Fadl-Khartoum

Under the impact of drums, the Arab tribes in West Darfur state mobilized their fighters to avenge the killing of three of their youths in Al-Geneina city during a fight, without the regular forces being able to predict the outcome of the situation.

The tribal dimension exacerbated the conflict in the Darfur region that has continued since 2003, when the government of the ousted President Omar al-Bashir used the Arab tribes and armed them against the rebellion dominated by the component of the so-called "blue" tribes of the Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa.

Awad Ibrahim Daoud, a leader in the Justice and Equality Movement, says, "The tribal wars in Darfur usually start with a regular quarrel, which happened in El Geneina last Sunday morning, and despite that, the regular forces continued to watch until the disaster occurred."

He added to Al-Jazeera Net that there is a conspiracy present from parties that have a relationship with the defunct regime and other parties that keep their name.

The leader of the movement, which has been leading a revolt against the government for 16 years, denounced the lack of intervention of the police and army for three days, and said, "If the regular forces were ready, the quarrel would not have widened into a tribal conflict."

Daoud referred to the displacements in the Kryndeng camp, which is home to thousands of displaced people from the Masalit tribe, who became homeless in the winter, and talked about the continuation of skirmishes despite the reinforcements that arrived from Khartoum and other cities in Darfur.

He regretted the renewed historical conflicts between Arabs and Masalit, after having receded a lot in recent years.

The beginning of the spark
An official in the West Darfur government told Al-Jazeera Net that the problem started with a fight between young people from the Masalit and Arabs in the Watch Club in El-Geneina on Sunday morning, and the situation developed in the evening and resulted in the killing of three Arabs.

According to the official, the Arabs armed the next morning and attacked the Crinding camp, where it was burned and the displaced persons displaced.

He added that there are inconsistencies in the death toll, as no data was issued from the state health ministry after some medical staff left the hospitals for fear for their safety, but some statistics confirm 34 deaths, including 12 Arab tribes and 22 Masalit.

He stressed that the situation is now tired with caution after the arrival of additional forces from Khartoum, Nyala and Zalingei, and the movement of the main markets has stopped following the curfew imposed throughout the night.

Comment negotiations
Daoud justified the suspension of negotiations in Juba between the government and the Revolutionary Front that the armed movements view the incident as one of the operations of the Bashir regime to violate the Juba agreements, as a result of the existence of similar operations in South Kordofan, South Darfur and now in West Darfur.

He considered that the government is unable to control the deteriorating security reality, which causes the movements to preserve the peace process and the government's credibility.

The central government had decided to send reinforcements to Al-Geneina 48 hours after the events, and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdouk and Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council Muhammad Hamdan Hamidati were expected to visit the city in an attempt to calm down.

Observers believe that the conflict between the Arab tribes that occupy grazing and the tribes of Zarqa that occupy agriculture has a relationship with competition over lands known as Al-Hawakeer.

Although a peace agreement was signed between the government and the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Arko Minawi in Abuja in 2006, and between the government and the Liberation and Justice Movement in Doha in 2011, the conflict continued in Darfur due to the refusal of other movements to sign.

Now, several armed movements in the region are negotiating with the government, in Juba, the most prominent of which is Justice and Equality under the leadership of Gabriel Ibrahim and the liberation of Sudan led by Manaw, "while Abdel Wahed Mohamed Nour, head of the SLM, refuses to negotiate.

It should be noted that a camp for the peacekeepers mission in Nyala, South Darfur, was recently attacked and looted over three days, and the mission accused local residents and regular forces of storming the camp, which was recently handed over to the government.