Just weeks after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to terminate the mandate of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) in Darfur, a new outbreak of violence in the region has left hundreds dead and injured. At least 159 people died–including three aid workers–and tens of thousands were displaced following militia attacks on camps for those already displaced in West Darfur’s El Geneina in January. Dozens more lost their lives in South Darfur amid clashes between Arab Rizeigat and Fallata groups. During more than 13 years on the ground, UNAMID has often been criticized for failing to protect people. But many Dafuris protested against its withdrawal and have little faith in the Sudanese government, even with the old regime out the door. Addressing the new violence, Jonas Horner, a Sudan analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the new administration had “comprehensively failed its first real test of maintaining security.”
From The New Humanitaran, Jan. 22.
Photo: UNAMID via UN News
Darfur faces worst displacement crisis in years
A surge in inter-communal attacks in Darfur last month forced more people to flee their homes in three days than in the whole of 2020 in Sudan, and the numbers continue to rise. Violence erupted between militias from the Massalit and Arab communities between Jan. 15 and 18, triggering about 183,000 new displacements. Most took place in Ag Geneina in West Darfur, but displacement was also recorded in Gereida and East Jebel Marra in South Darfur and Tawila in North Darfur. The new violence comes weeks after a UN-African Union peacekeeping mission had its mandate ended, and months after rebel movements in the western region signed a peace deal with Sudan’s transitional government. (TNH, ReliefWeb)