Toll from tribal violence in Sudan's West Darfur reaches 129

Sudan's Security and Defense Council decided to send security reinforcements to West Darfur to protect the citizens and vital utilities, following a curfew imposed in the wake of the violence.

Khartoum: The death toll due to the bloody tribal violence which broke up in El Geneina, the capital city of Sudan's West Darfur State, has increased to 129, while the number of the injured stood at 198, according to authorities.

In a statement on Monday, the Doctors' Committee of the West Darfur State said the victims include "children and new-born infants", reports Xinhua news agency.

Read:|83 people killed in Sudan's Darfur clashes

On Sunday, Sudan's Security and Defense Council decided to form a higher committee to investigate El Geneina events, determine the root-causes of the problem, and hold the perpetrators accountable.

According to local media reports, the clashes erupted after a fight on January 15 between two people in a displaced camp in El Geneina.

One of the two men, a member of a local Arab tribe, was stabbed to death.

In response to the killing, members of the local tribe attacked people in a camp and other areas the following day.

West Darfur has also been the site of much of the ongoing Darfur armed conflict that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement rebel groups began fighting the government of Khartoum, which they accused of oppressing the region's non-Arab population.

IANS

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