Fourteen killed in Darfur camp clashes: Sudanese media
Fourteen people have been killed during clashes in a camp for displaced people in Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur region, the official SUNA news agency said.
The violence erupted on Saturday in South Darfur's Kalma camp, one of the biggest facilities housing thousands of people displaced by war.
"Fourteen people have been killed in clashes inside camp Kalma the day before yesterday," South Darfur's acting governor General Hashim Khalid said, quoted by SUNA on Monday.
Khalid did not say what triggered the violence or reveal details about the groups that clashed, but said the camp has a "lot of weapons and groups that disturb the state's security".
He said camp Kalma also had many rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), one of the groups that has been fighting with Khartoum for years.
Darfur, a region the size of France, has been awash with weapons since 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against ousted leader Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of economic and political discrimination.
Khartoum cracked down on rebels and insurgent groups have fragmented, with fighting punctuated by periods of relative calm.
Gunmen on horseback
During the initial years of the conflict, Arab militias fought alongside government forces against the African rebels.
The most feared government-allied militia was the Janjaweed - gunmen on horseback who swept through Darfur marauding villagers and fighting rebels.
Sudan restricts international media access to Darfur, so it is not possible to independently verify the details of fighting there.
In recent years the level of violence has significantly dropped, with Khartoum insisting the conflict has ended.
The United Nations says about 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003 and another 2.5 million people displaced.
Tens of thousands of people continue to live in sprawling camps like Kalma.
Sudan's new military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, like Bashir, stands accused of involvement in war crimes in Darfur.
Burhan also oversaw the controversial deployment of Sudanese troops in Yemen and had previously served as the commander of the army's ground forces.
The Sudanese fighting with the Saudi coalition in Yemen against Houthi rebels are often survivors of the Darfur conflict, and have been accused of incorporating children in their ranks.
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