New tribal conflicts have erupted in the last 24 hours in Darfur, a region of western Sudan bordering Chad and the Central African Republic. At least 24 people have been killed and thousands more forced to flee their homes because of hostilities that began on Saturday, a local official said today.

“There have been 24 deaths, as of Saturday night, between the two warring sidessaid Mohamed Hussein Timane, a community councilor in Foro Barangay, about 185 kilometers from El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

On Monday afternoon, local authorities had announced a night curfew and a month-long state of emergency.

According to UN figures, more than 50 houses were set on fire in Foro Barangay and “about 4,000 families (or 20,000 people) were forced to leave their homes”.

The Darfur region is often rocked by tribal conflicts, fueled by territorial disputes and lack of access to water and other resources.

The civil war that broke out in 2003 between forces loyal to the regime of General Omar al-Bashir (who was overthrown in 2019) and ethnic minority rebels has killed around 300,000 people and displaced nearly 2.5 million people, according to with the UN.

Political analysts attribute the new outbreak of ethnic clashes to the security vacuum created after the coup that brought General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to power in October 2021.