CAIRO (TUSEN) — Sudan has accused neighboring Chad earlier this week of a cross-border attack that killed at least 18 nomads in Sudan’s western Darfur region, a top commander said.
According to Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council, armed Chadian attackers entered West Darfur province last Thursday and attacked a group of nomads residing in an open area near the border towns of Beir Saliba and Ardeiba.
Apart from the dead, several nomads were injured in the attack and their livestock was looted and taken to Chad, the municipality said Friday.
There was no immediate comment from Chad on the allegations.
A Sudanese outlet, Darfur 24 news, reported on Friday a minor clash between Chadian and Sudanese troops in the area, in which three Sudanese troops were injured.
Sudanese senior general Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the sovereign council, had traveled to Chad before the attack for a previously scheduled meeting Thursday with Chad’s acting president and head of the country’s ruling military transition council, Mahamat Idriss Deby.
He then returned to Darfur, where he lived for weeks to defuse the tensions between the tribes and the violence that has plagued the troubled region in recent months.
Dagalo attended the funerals of the slain nomads on Friday and urged tribal leaders and residents of West Darfur to exercise restraint. On Saturday, he met with a Sudanese-Chadian joint commission and held talks with local officials and tribal leaders to prevent further escalation.
Sudan has called on Chad to find the attackers and return the stolen livestock.
