Ethnic clashes in southern Sudan have killed 27 people, including four children, a local medical group said

CAIRO — Four children were among at least 27 people killed in the latest ethnic clashes in southern Sudan, a local medical group said on Tuesday.

The killings were carried out by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N) in Qardud and Abu Hamama, areas inhabited by the Otoro tribe in South Kordofan, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, which monitors casualty numbers in the war-torn East African country.

Earlier this year, intense fighting erupted between forces linked to SPLM-N and the Otoro tribe, which is a minority group in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan.

The ethnic standoff, first instigated by land disputes, adds another layer to the country’s ongoing civil war which broke out in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The attacks have forced many people to flee toward Abu Hitan, a nearby village and Kadugli, the largest town in South Kordofan, said the doctors.

The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on Facebook that it stressed “that targeting unarmed civilians, including women and children, on ethnic grounds constitutes an explicit violation of international humanitarian law.”

The humanitarian group urged the international community to exert pressure on the SPLM-N leadership to halt attacks on civilians, noting that women were also among those wounded in the latest attacks.

The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the ruling party of neighboring South Sudan. Its leader Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, has aligned his fighters with the RSF and joined ranks with the RSF-led parallel government.