The repercussions of the bloody conflict in Khartoum reach it. What is happening in El Geneina, West Darfur state?

KHARTOUM - With the noise of war in Khartoum, there are no details of scenes steeped in violence and bloodshed, this time in West Darfur state adjacent to the border with Chad, where the capital of El Geneina has been witnessing a conflict of a tribal nature that has left at least 300 dead and 200 injured since last Thursday, according to estimates by the Sudanese Red Crescent Society.

According to an association source who spoke to Al Jazeera, the announced statistics are not final due to the difficulty of reaching all areas affected by the violence.

A statement by the preliminary committee of the Sudanese Medical Syndicate also said that 280 people were killed and 160 others were injured as a result of clashes in El Geneina last Friday and Saturday, pointing to the difficulty of counting the victims due to the security situation.

The source in the Red Crescent Society described the situation in the city as a disaster, as it needs medicines, food and shelter supplies, especially children, who began to die of malnutrition, pointing out that all hospitals have stopped working except for the military hospital and some mobile clinics of the Red Crescent Society.

In turn, a doctor at the main hospital in El Geneina – speaking to Al Jazeera Net – the entire health and service system has been out of service since April 24, while rates of displacement and fatal injuries among civilians are steadily increasing.

The violence in El Geneina comes as an extension of the armed conflict in Khartoum, when clashes erupted between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the city before later turning into a tribal fighting with Arab tribes lining up against the Masalit, the two dominant African groups in the city of El Geneina.

Historical feud

The conflict between the Masalit and the Arab tribes increased immediately after the fall of the Bashir regime in 2019, the year in which militias affiliated with Arab tribes were twice accused of burning the "Karnding" camp, the largest camp for displaced people in El Geneina, and by 2020 the events of the Mistri area took place, in which large numbers of Masalit were killed by militias.

The hostility between the Masalit and the Arab tribes is historical, as the Masalit do not recognize the right of Arabs to exist in West Darfur, calling them Janjaweed and occupiers of their lands and seeking to drive them out, while the Arabs cling to their right to exist there.

Violent events usually erupt over a criminal offense or brawl that quickly escalates into a tribal conflict in which all kinds of weapons are used, and the RSF has always been accused of involvement in these clashes in favor of Arab tribes.

In 2019, the RSF commander in West Darfur, Moussa Ampelo, was shown in a video inciting his soldiers to attack and burn Camp Karending.

In 2021, El Geneina witnessed fierce fighting between Masalit and Arab tribes, and then the fiercest fighting in Darfur was in 2022, after the Krenaik area – 80 km from El Geneina – was completely destroyed, including infrastructure, water sources and all government institutions, due to the attack of Arab tribes on the area, killing more than 300 people, most of them Masalit.

These violent developments prompted RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan "Hemedti" to pack his bags towards El Geneina and stay there for nearly three months to convince the warring parties to conclude reconciliation agreements that they did not abide by later.

The conflict in West Darfur is not limited to Masalit and Arab tribes, in 2022 also heavy fighting took place between Arabs and African Comoros tribes in the Kulbes region, resulting in large numbers of deaths and the displacement of thousands of people, some of whom crossed into Chad.

Fragile compatibility

In South and North Darfur, the picture is the opposite of what is happening in Khartoum and West Darfur, where the Rapid Support Forces, the police and the rest of the agencies in these two states (south and north) agreed to secure the situation and guard commercial convoys instead of clashing.

However, from the point of view of observers, these understandings seem interim and temporary given the severe tension left by the war, and the same is confirmed by the journalist interested in Darfur affairs, Abu Bakr Mukhtar, who describes the consensus in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, and El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, as fragile, and believes that it is likely to explode at any moment to intensify the contributing factors, including the state of societal injustice towards rapid support due to violations against the population for many years.

Mukhtar says to Al Jazeera Net that the committees that oversaw the ceasefire between the army and the Rapid Support divided Nyala and El Fasher into two parts, a situation that would help in the explosion of the situation, for example in El Fasher the army controls the western part, while the Rapid Support Forces have the east of the city.

Mokhtar spoke about the complaints of residents in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces that their soldiers committed a package of violations, such as the occupation of homes after the expulsion of their owners, and the spread of looting and banditry, adding that "this situation may lead to the explosion of the security situation in this part to include all of El Fasher."

The speaker attributed the failure to apply the model of El Fasher and Nyala in the city of El Geneina to the tribal conflict in the latter, which many parties contributed to fueling, including the Rapid Support Forces, which are mostly composed of members of Arab tribes and whose members line up next to their families when fighting breaks out, taking advantage of their weapons and war equipment.

On the other hand, the police in West Darfur are accused of bias in the current conflict towards the Masalit, and that they opened weapons stores for them, so that the current battle in El Geneina seems almost equal, unlike previous times, as the Masalit did not have a weapon equivalent to the equipment of the Arab tribes.

Fears of a new war

Abdul Basit al-Hajj, a human rights activist interested in Darfur issues, links the developments of events in West Darfur to the conflict of the army and the rapid support in Khartoum, while stressing that the problem in El Geneina is old and has extensions during the past four years, which led to a state of continuous security fragility, which was increased by the state's geographical location, which made it the most vulnerable to manifestations of clashes and violence.

Al-Hajj pointed out – in his interview with Al Jazeera Net – that West Darfur is one of the states where the presence of armed tribal militias is intensifying next to the Rapid Support militias that attack El Geneina frequently, the latest of which was months ago when they raided the areas of Tandalti, Habila and others.

He also points to the growing fears that the battle will spread to Darfur once it is resolved in Khartoum, and that West Darfur will be the most prominent state that may witness armed confrontations again, and there may be alignment and increasing parties, as happened previously with the alliance of Janjaweed militias and rapid support, which leads to more displaced people and exacerbates the humanitarian situation.

He also stressed the need to launch an appeal to help the remaining civilians in El Geneina, deliver basic aid to them and maintain security inside the city, as skirmishes are still ongoing amid a remarkable spread of weapons.