Fighting has broken out across parts of North Darfur in recent days involving government troops, SLA rebel factions, and the formerly government-backed Musa Hilal militia, which has announced independent control of several areas.

A military convoy clashed with rebels in Kutum Locality, North Darfur, on Sunday, according to Adam Saleh Abakar, the spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Minawi.

He claims more than 60 government militia troops (‘Rapid Support Forces’) were killed in the clash, and 84 wounded. SLA claims also to have captured nine vehicles and destroyed eight.

There was also a clash reported in East Jebel Marra and looting in Sarafaya near the North Darfur capital on Sunday.

Saleh Abdel Rahman Omar, a member of the North Darfur State parliament representing rural areas around El Fasher, told Radio Dabanga that militiamen overran Sarafaya, looting and burning several houses.

He said the population of Sarafaya fled in panic to the neighbouring villages. A number of them reached the area of Shagra, west of El Fasher.

In the mountainous Jebel Marra region, the SLA faction led by Abdel Wahid Al Nur clashed with ‘Rapid Support Janjaweed’ in the area between Fanga and El Aradeib El Ashara on Sunday afternoon, according to another SLA military spokesman.

The rebels claim to have seized six Land Cruisers loaded with cannons, and destroyed another ten vehicles belonging to the government militia.

Sudan’s air force bombed the area on Monday following the clashes, burning Fanga market, according to the same source. No casualties were reported in the bombing.

Elsewhere in North Darfur, militia commander Musa Hilal has established a committee of 100 people from various tribes in Saraf Umra locality, North Darfur. The committee will choose the commissioner and executive directors in the locality, which is controlled by Hilal's militias.

Hilal's troops announced last Thursday control of Saraf Umra town, Kutum town, Kabkabiya town, and El Waha area, and the establishment of administrations. The militia leader was part of the Sudanese government but has since distanced himself from Khartoum and called his movement the 'Awakening Revolutionary Council'.

Fighting in Saraf Umra locality caused massive displacement earlier this month. An estimated 65,000 fled their homes, but most of those have since returned.

File photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid

Reporting by Radio Dabanga