Deadly New Battles in Sudan Gold Mine Area

Deadly battles have again erupted in Sudan's Darfur between two Arab tribes which began fighting in January over control of gold mining, sources from both sides said on Thursday.

A leader of the Beni Hussein tribe told Agence France Presse the rival Rezeigat group attacked outside El Sireaf town in the Jebel Amir region of North Darfur state on Wednesday.

"They conducted massacres using heavy weapons and military vehicles," said the tribal leader, who declined to be named.

He claimed that dozens from his group were killed.

A second Beni Hussein resident of the area also said there were dozens of dead.

"We killed a number of them. I don't have figures," said a Rezeigat source.

"Some people tried to steal our camels and we defended our animals," he added.

Fighting began in January after a Rezeigat leader, who is an officer in Sudan's Border Guard force, apparently laid claim to a gold-rich area of Beni Hussein territory in Jebel Amir, the rights group Amnesty International said earlier.

About 100,000 people were displaced or severely affected by the fighting.

This was a major contributor to the estimated 300,000 people forced to flee their homes throughout Darfur this year, mainly from tribal violence sparked by competition for land, water and mineral rights, the U.N. says.

Rebel-government clashes are also partly responsible for the displacement, which is more than in the past two years combined, the U.N. says.

There were already 1.4 million people uprooted in Sudan's far-west region where rebels began an insurrection 10 years ago.

An official with the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) told AFP that on Thursday it received reports of fighting between Beni Hussein elements and another group in four locations near El Sireaf.

"The reports that we received speak of casualties on both sides," the UNAMID official said.

The peacekeepers, who had set up a temporary base in El Sireaf after the fighting earlier this year, have sent out verification patrols to the four affected areas, which are between 15 and 25 kilometers (nine and 16 miles) west and north of El Sireaf.

"The mission is also working with the local authorities to arrange a medical evacuation by air of a number of seriously injured, from El Sireaf to El Fasher," the North Darfur capital more than 200 kilometers away, the UNAMID official said.

The state's legislature condemned the latest violence "in which a number of civilians died" and called on both sides to stop hostilities, the official SUNA news agency reported.

Wednesday's fighting came despite efforts to secure a ceasefire between the two groups which also clashed last Friday, local sources in the area said.

The Beni Hussein then assumed defensive positions several kilometers outside El Sireaf, fearing a Rezeigat advance, the sources said.