‘Ongoing tribal clashes cause famine in Darfur states’

The Shura Council of the Salamat tribe has warned of famine in areas of Central Darfur and South Darfur as citizens have failed to farm their autumn season crops, due to the ongoing fighting between tribes. The deputy chairman of the Shura Council (heads of communities) told reporters in Khartoum on Wednesday that the citizens of Um Dukhun and Abugaradil areas in Central Darfur, and Rahad El Berdi locality in South Darfur suffer from “a lack of security and life necessities. “The insecurity is caused by the fighting between Salamat and Misseriya which has spread for a period of six months now”, Omda Jibril Hassan Adam, also representing the Salamat tribe, said. “Many of the families on the border with Chad have refused to return to their areas.” The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said in 2013 that as a result of the tribal battles 50,000 people sought refuge in Chad. Adam denied that citizens have received humanitarian aid from authorities or relief organisations. He revealed that the authorities of the presidential palace refused the council to meet with President of Sudan Omar Al Bashir, in order to resolve the tribal problems in the states. The council has sent these authorities nine memos requesting a meeting, he said, without any response. Inter-tribal conflictTensions between the tribes have run high since an incident in Um Dukhun in April, which escalated into running battles between thousands of tribesmen from both sides. A reconciliation conference was convened in Zalingei and on 1 July – in spite of sporadic flare-ups of violence between tribesmen – the omdas of the tribes announced they had “reached an agreement”. File photo: Farmer in West Darfur (Albert González Farran / Unamid) Related: Misseriya, Salamat peace agreement in South Darfur (11 December 2013)