武装した男５００人が町を襲撃、６０人超死亡　スーダン・ダルフール

【ハルツームＡＦＰ＝時事】】国連人道問題調整事務所は26日、スーダン・西ダルフール州で武装した男たち約500人が町を襲い、住民60人以上が殺害されたと発表した。同地では先週から、複数の集落が襲撃に遭っているという。アブダラ・ハムドク首相は同日、治安部隊を派遣する方針を明らかにした。（写真は資料写真）
　首都ハルツームのＯＣＨＡ事務所によると新たな襲撃は２５日午後、西ダルフールの町マステリで起きた。マサリット人の住民を標的に、民家や市場が略奪の被害を受けたという。この襲撃事件を受け、地元住民約５００人がより手厚い保護を求めて当局に対する抗議デモを行った。
　ＡＦＰの取材に地元住民らが語ったところによれば、内戦で荒廃した西ダルフール地方では２４日にも村が武装集団に襲われ、農耕地に数年ぶりに帰還した民間人２０人が殺害される事件があったばかり。
　ハムドク首相は２６日、ダルフールの女性代表団と面会した後、「民間人と農繁期を守る」ためダルフールに軍と警察からなる治安部隊を派遣すると表明した。

■相次ぐ襲撃、内戦と土地争いが背景に
　貧しいダルフール地方では２００３年、少数民族の蜂起をきっかけに、少数民族の武装組織と政府軍や政府側民兵組織が内戦に突入。当時のオマル・ハッサン・アハメド・バシル大統領政権は焦土戦を繰り広げ、３０万人が死亡、２５０万人が避難民となった。バシル大統領に忠誠を誓うアラブ系放牧民の民兵組織「ジャンジャウィード」は、特に恐れられた。
　バシル氏は昨年、大規模な反政府デモを受けて失脚。以降、ダルフールでは暴力行為が下火になり、現地の武装組織など９つの反政府勢力でつくる連合体が今年１月、内戦終結に向けた合意文書に署名した。２か月前には政府の推進する避難民の帰還計画が合意に至り、７～１１月の種まき時に合わせて農耕民族が元いた土地に戻り始めている。
　だが、現地情勢に詳しい専門家アダム・ムハンマド氏によると、流血の争いは特に土地をめぐって今も続いている。内戦により農民らが避難した後、遺棄された農地や村に遊牧民族が定住しているためだ。
　最近相次いでいる襲撃は、アフリカ系の農耕民族のコミュニティーが標的となっており、アラブ系遊牧民族との土地争いが背景にある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/07/28-13:26）

UN officials on Sunday reported a fresh massacre of more than 60 people in Sudan's West Darfur, as the country's prime minister promised fresh troops for the conflict-stricken region.
Attackers targeted members of the local Masalit community, looting and burning houses and part of the local market, a statement said.
Around 500 armed men attacked Masteri Town, north of Beida, in Darfur on Saturday afternoon, said the statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
This was one of the latest of a series of security incidents reported over the last week that left several villages and houses burned, markets and shops looted, and infrastructure damaged, said the statement, from the OCHA's Khartoum office.
Following Saturday's attack on Masteri, around 500 local people staged a protest demanding more protection from the authorities.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the government would send security forces to conflict-stricken Darfur to protect citizens and the farming season.
A joint security force will be deployed in the five states of the Darfur region to protect citizens during the farming season, Hamdok's office said in a statement after he met a delegation of women from the region.
The force will include army and police forces, it said.
- Land conflict -
On Friday, armed men drove into a village and killed 20 civilians returning to their fields for the first time in years, an eyewitness and a tribal chief told AFP.
The impoverished western region has seen years of conflict since an ethnic minority uprising prompted the government to launch a scorched-earth campaign that left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million.
Violence in Darfur has eased since Bashir's ouster by the army amid mass protests against his rule last year
The government and a coalition of nine rebel groups, including factions from the region, signed a preliminary peace deal in January.
Farmers displaced in the conflict had since started to return to their land under a government-sponsored deal reached two months ago, in time for the July-November planting season.
But the bloodshed has continued, particularly over land rights, according to expert Adam Mohammad.
The question of land is one cause of the conflict, he said.
During the war, peasants fled their lands and villages to camps, and nomads replaced them and settled there.
- Harvests threatened -
The recent killings have targeted the African farming communities in conflict with the nomadic Arab tribes over the land.
In late June and early July, hundreds of protesters camped for days outside a government building in the Central Darfur town of Nertiti to demand that the government beef up security after multiple killings and looting incidents on farmland and properties.
After Saturday's attack on Masteri, around 500 local people staged their own protest demanding more protection.
The escalation of violence in different parts of Darfur region is leading to increased displacement, compromising the agricultural season, causing loss of lives and livelihoods and driving growing humanitarian needs, said the OCHA statement.
Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in the conflict.