{{short description|Mass shootings in Darfur, Sudan}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = 2020 Darfur attacks | partof = the War in Darfur | image = File:Map of Darfur 2011.png | image_size = 250px | caption = Location of Darfur (light green) and the rest of Sudan (pale yellow) | location = Darfur, Sudan | date = 12–26 July 2020 | type = Mass shootings | fatalities = >89 | injuries = >102 | perpetrators = | motive = Land conflicts relating to farming rights }} {{War in Darfur}} The '''2020 Darfur attacks''' were three mass shootings that occurred in July 2020 in Darfur, Sudan. Sudan's leadership and the joint United Nations and African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have connected the massacres to land conflicts relating to farming rights, typically between non-Arab tribal farmers, such as the Masalit people, and Arab Bedouin tribes,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-28|title=Sudan deploys security forces after 120 dead, injured in attack in Darfur |url= https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200728-sudan-deploys-security-forces-after-120-dead-injured-in-attack-in-darfur/|access-date=2020-07-28|website=Middle East Monitor |language=en-GB}}</ref> whom the government believes to be the attackers.<ref>{{Citation | title = Soudan : le gouvernement envoie l'armée au Darfour en proie à une flambée de violences | date = 29 July 2020 | language = fr | trans-title = Sudan: the government sends the Army to Darfur after an eruption of violences | url = https://mobile.francetvinfo.fr/monde/afrique/politique-africaine/soudan-le-gouvernement-envoie-l-armee-au-darfour-en-proie-a-une-flambee-de-violences_4060173.html | publisher = France TV info | quote = Khartoum veut stopper les milices arabes proches de l'ancien président Omar el-Béchir qui terrorisent les populations dans l'ouest du pays [Cartum wants to stop the arab militias aligned with the old president Omar el Bechir who are terrorizing the West of the country.}}</ref>
==Background== Since 2003, a civil war has been taking place in Darfur, in the west of Sudan. During the violence, various ethnic groups were driven out of their land. Other people moved in and took over the land; in the 2010s, the original landowners returned and contested ownership.<ref name=bbc1/>
According to reports by Radio Dabanga:<ref>{{Cite web|title=About us Radio Dabanga|url=https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/about-us|access-date=2020-07-29|website=www.dabangasudan.org|language=en}}</ref>
<blockquote>"The Unregistered Lands Act of 1970 entitled the government to use force in safeguarding land and encouraging the accumulation of land by a minority of rich investors (local or foreign), causing the alienation of agro-pastoralists from their traditional homelands and denying any formal legitimacy or juridical status to traditional property rights."<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>
Farming in the region largely ceased during the conflict, and in early 2020 the Sudanese government intervened to return land to its original owners.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="reuters1" /><ref name="bbc1" /><ref name=":3">{{cite web|title=Unamid conference addresses land ownership in Darfur|url=https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/unamid-conference-addresses-land-ownership-in-darfur|access-date=28 July 2020|website=Radio Dabanga|date=21 November 2013 }}</ref>
==Attacks== ===12 July: Kutum, North Darfur=== On 12 July 2020, at least 9 people were killed and 20 injured in an armed attack on protesters carried out by unidentified armed militiamen riding motorbikes, camels and horses in the Fata Borno area of the Kutum locality, in North Darfur. The government, in reaction, decided to impose a state of emergency throughout the state. The witnesses further stated that the militias used light and heavy weapons and looted the town's market, after the withdrawal of the police forces.<ref>[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/condemns-deadly-violence-sudan-north-darfur-200715094909361.html UN condemns deadly violence in Sudan's North Darfur]</ref>
===24 July: Aboudos, South Darfur=== On 24 July 2020, gunmen stormed the village of Aboudos in South Darfur, Sudan, according to local tribal leaders.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/attackers-kill-20-sudan-darfur-tribal-chief-200725123025349.html|title=Attackers kill at least 20 in Sudan's Darfur, says tribal chief|date=25 July 2020|website=Al Jazeera English}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=27 July 2020|title=Sudan sending troops to Darfur after 60 killed|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2020/0727/1155670-sudan-darfur/|language=en}}</ref> The attack left at least 20 people dead and another 22 were injured.<ref name=reuters1>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-violence-idUSKCN24Q0JJ|title=Gunmen kill at least 22 villagers in South Darfur, locals say|date=25 July 2020|newspaper=Reuters}}</ref> The victims included children, according to Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. He connected the violence to farmers in the area returning to their fields, and pledged to send troops to Darfur to "protect citizens and the farming season".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Sudan to deploy troops to Darfur after killings: PM Hamdok|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/sudan-deploy-troops-darfur-killings-pm-hamdok-200726193537294.html|access-date=27 July 2020|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref> These troops would be spread across all of the Darfur region, and consist of both police and military units.<ref name=":0" />
===25–26 July: Misterei, West Darfur=== On 25 and 26 July 2020, another massacre occurred in West Darfur involving around 500 gunmen who attacked Misterei near Beida, a Masalit community, killing more than 60 people.<ref name=":1" /> Masteri is a border village with Chad.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Dozens killed in renewed violence in Sudan's Darfur: UN|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/dozens-killed-renewed-violence-sudan-darfur-200727055410756.html|access-date=27 July 2020|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref> The United Nations (UN) said that another 60 people were injured in the attack, and that the attackers also looted and burned down villages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/more-than-60-killed-in-fresh-attacks-in-sudans-darfur-region/a-54325767|title=More than 60 killed in fresh attacks in Sudan's Darfur region | DW | 27.07.2020|last=Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com)|website=DW.COM}}</ref> A UN statement said it was "one of the latest of a series of security incidents reported over the last week", saying other communities in the region had been destroyed<ref name=":1" /> and reporting at least seven deadly attacks in West Darfur since 19 July.<ref name=":2" /> The UN have suggested the conflict relates to disputes over land ownership: after displacement in Darfur in the early 2000s, groups took over abandoned land. In recent years, persecuted groups have attempted to return to their land. No group has claimed the attacks.<ref name=bbc1>{{cite news|date=27 July 2020|title=Sudan to send more troops to Darfur after attacks|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53549310|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref>
==See also== * List of massacres in Sudan * 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum * 2010 South Darfur clash * 2021 Darfur clashes
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darfur attacks, 2020}} Category:2020 mass shootings in Africa Category:2020 murders in Sudan Category:21st-century mass murders in Sudan Category:Arson in Sudan Category:Arson in 2020 Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 2020 Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in Sudan Category:July 2020 crimes in Africa Category:July 2020 in Africa Category:Massacres in 2020 Category:Massacres in Darfur 2020 attacks Category:Robberies in Africa 2020 attacks 2020 attacks 2020 attacks Category:2020 fires in Africa