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At Least Five Killed in Tribal Violence in Sudan’s West Kordofan

Internally displaced Sudanese women. Reuter file photo
Internally displaced Sudanese women. Reuter file photo
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At Least Five Killed in Tribal Violence in Sudan’s West Kordofan

Internally displaced Sudanese women. Reuter file photo
Internally displaced Sudanese women. Reuter file photo

At least five people were killed and nine injured in tribal clashes between members of the Miseriya and Nuba tribes in Sudan's West Kordofan state, the country's military said on Saturday.

The incident is the latest in a wave of tribal violence that has swept across the country, despite the signing of a nationwide peace deal two years ago.

The fighting, which occurred on Friday and Saturday in the town of Lagawa, was brought under control after intervention by the army and Rapid Support Forces, as well as police, a military statement said.

Lagawa lies outside a part of the state controlled by rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu's faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which has not signed up to the peace deal.

The group, whose army includes members of the Nuba tribe, has long been at odds with the Sudanese government, and members of the Arab Miseriya tribe have participated in the conflict, Reuters reported.

In a statement on Friday, however, SPLM-N denied any involvement in the violence in Lagawa or any enmity towards the Miseriya, describing the events as the result of a dispute over land in the town.

Separately on Friday, nine Arab tribesmen arrived in Khartoum after being held captive by the SPLM-N.

Their release followed talks between the group's leadership, Sudan's sovereign council head General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and South Sudanese brokers, a separate military statement said, describing the release as a "goodwill gesture".

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.