KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sept. 3 Arab tribes in Sudan's western Darfur region are now fighting among themselves instead of against government-backed militias, the New York Times said Monday.
For four years, the region has been violent with clashes and purges of villages by militias, but a Times correspondent said the situation is turning into anarchy, where once-united Arab tribes have turned on one another.
United Nations officials told the newspaper tribal and factional fighting now claim more lives than battles between government and rebel forces.
"The fragmentation of armed groups is among our major concerns," said Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Sudan. "This is making the situation even more complex, and more difficult for civilians as well as for humanitarians trying to help them."
The African Union has a force of 7,000 troops in the area that will be joined in late December by an all-African U.N. peacekeeping force.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
