Death Toll in Sudan's Darfur Violence Climbs to 180

On Monday, a group of militant fighters waged a deadly attack in Sudan’s Darfur, leaving more than 47 people killed, according to Sudanese residents.

The latest inter-ethnic violence, which took place near the Sudanese town of Gereida, came after 83 others were killed in separate weekend clashes and following shortly after a peacekeeping mission ended operations.

The surge in violence will add to concerns about the departure of an international peacekeeping force that stopped patrolling in Darfur on Jan. 1 ahead of its full withdrawal and replacement by a Sudanese force.

Gereida had also seen deadly clashes in late December involving the Masalit and Fallata tribes.

On Saturday and Sunday, attacks took place in and around El Geneina in West Darfur following a reported fight in which a member of the Masalit killed a man from an Arab tribe.

A doctors’ union in West Darfur said on Monday that the toll had risen to 130  dead and 198 wounded, including children. Thousands had been displaced by the violence and were in dire need of humanitarian aid, the group said.

Conflict in Darfur escalated from 2003, when government forces and mainly Arab militia were accused of widespread atrocities as they fought to suppress mostly non-Arab rebels. An estimated 300,000 were killed and some 1.5 million remain displaced within Darfur.