Sudan - Tribal Clashes Kill 58 In Darfur Region

Clashes between two Arab tribes in Sudan's troubled Darfur region earlier this week killed 58 people and wounded 24, the state news agency SUNA said on Thursday.

The fighting involved the Misseriya and Rizeigat tribes and took place in the Jebara area at the border between East Darfur and South Kordofan state, SUNA said after a meeting of tribal leaders and government officials in East Darfur.

It did not say what had started the violence. Tribes in Darfur, a vast arid region in western Sudan, and in the south of the country often clash over land or water rights.

Darfur is the scene of a rebellion by non-Arab tribes against the Arab government in Khartoum, which they accuse of political and economic marginalisation.

The rebels took up arms in 2003, and a year later the government sent troops and allied Arab tribes to quell the insurgency, unleashing a wave of violence which the United Nations estimates has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.

The level of violence has subsided, but continuing fighting and widespread banditry have hampered peace efforts.