By Xinhua
Khartoum : Fresh clashes between a nomadic tribe and former rebel group have claimed 16 more lives with the toll reaching 25 in the past three days in southern Sudan, official SUNA news agency reported Sunday.
Mukhtar Babunimer, the emir of the Masirria tribe, was quoted as saying that 16 people were killed and nine wounded in the clashes, which took place Friday at al-Jarf area.
He said that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) was gathering forces north of the borders between northern and southern Sudan, known as the Jan 1, 1956 boundaries.
The clashes occurred hours after a visit paid by a government delegation led by Minister of Defence Abdul-Rahim Mohammed Hussein and Minister for Cabinet Affairs Pagan Amum in order to mediate the dispute between the two sides.
Hussein is a senior leader of the ruling National Congress Party led by Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, while Amum is the secretary general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the political umbrella of the SPLA.
It is still unknown why clashes took place again after the visit of the government delegation.
Nomadic tribes in Sudan generally have a tradition of moving southward in winter to look for herbage and water.