Six dead in latest Darfur unrest: media

Six people have been killed and 12 wounded during a dispute in Sudan's Darfur region but security forces managed to avert a tribal conflict, official media said on Thursday.

The deaths are the latest in a surge of unrest in Sudan's far-west, where a rebellion which began nearly a decade ago has highlighted tribal divisions.

Fatal clashes over the past three days occurred around the market in Mellit town, north of the Darfur state capital El Fasher, the SUNA news agency said.

It quoted Mellit government chief Mohammed Osman Ibrahim as saying an "exchange of accusations" over the death of one person sparked the incident.

Security forces contained the unrest "before it led to tribal conflict," Ibrahim said.

The African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) told AFP that its forces in the Mellit area heard shooting for 45 minutes on Wednesday afternoon.

Last Friday the UN reported that 25,000 people had been displaced around the town of Kutum, in another part of North Darfur, after unrest that began with the killing of a government official.

Members of the official's tribe retaliated with looting and attacks on a camp for the displaced, said Darfur's top official, Eltigani Seisi.

He said Darfur is ethnically and tribally polarised as a result of war.

Rebels drawn from black African tribes rose against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003. The conflict, which peaked years ago, killed at least 300,000 people according to UN estimates. The government said 10,000 died.

Clashes between rebels and government troops, banditry and inter-ethnic fighting continue in the region.

In other violence this week, armed men seized a hostage and fired shots at Seisi's offices in El Fasher before security forces intervened.

In South Darfur, gunmen surrounded and opened fire on a UNAMID police compound, killing a Bangladeshi peacekeeper and wounding another.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/six-dead-latest-darfur-unrest-media-201113788.html

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