Recurring attacks in Jebel Moon leave 36 dead and over 150,000 families displaced
The repeated attacks on villages around Jebel Moon in West Darfur during the past week has amounted to a death toll of 36 people and triggered a large number of people to be displaced in the region.
Newly displaced families in El Geneina town following recent clashes in West Darfur (Modesta Ndubi-UNHCR)
The repeated attacks on villages around Jebel Moon in West Darfur during the past week has amounted to a death toll of 36 people and triggered a large number of people to be displaced in the region.
A local activist, Mohamed Ali, said in an interview with Radio Dabanga, that the number of displaced families in Jebel Moon, Seleia town, and those toward the Chadian border rose to 104,000 families, in addition to the displacement of 592 families to Sirba.
He explained that the displaced are living in tragic conditions, with no help from international organisations reaching them due to their inability to provide aid because of the deteriorating security conditions.
Ali reported that the attacks on the villages in Jebel Moon continued on Saturday and Sunday, with large crowds of gunmen heading from Sirba and other areas to Jebel Moon on Monday.
He mentioned that gunmen launched an attack from a convoy of vehicles and from horseback on the areas west of Seleia on Sunday.
He said that “members of the Sudan Armed Forces clashed with the armed attackers, while they left the base to collect firewood” on Saturday.
The Resistance Committees active in the neighbourhoods of El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, organised a protest vigil in front of the state government offices at the weekend condemning the recent violence in Jebel Moon.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (STSG) for Sudan, and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Volker Perthes, has appealed to all parties to put an end to the current wave of violence that is destabilising the country, and that “those responsible must be held accountable”.
In a statement issued by his office on Saturday, Perthes cites reports received by the UN over the past week of violent incidents in and around Jebel Moon in West Darfur. “This has included the burning of villages and the unfortunate death of tens of Sudanese, representing another alarming sign of the increasing instability in Sudan.”
Similar tribal violence broke out in November 2021 in Jebel Moon, leaving 43 dead and burned 46 villages, according to the United Nations.
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