El Fasher, October 9 (Darfur24)
Hundreds of residents from the town of Kornoi in North Darfur have fled this week to the border town of Tina and to refugee camps inside Chad amid escalating intercommunal violence, according to three independent sources in Tina on the Sudan–Chad border.
The clashes, which erupted last Saturday between two Zaghawa clans in Kornoi, quickly spread to nearby areas. At least 19 people, including community leaders, were killed, while five others were injured and eight remain missing.
In a related incident, a boy was kidnapped after being accused of sending coordinates for a drone strike that targeted a community meeting in Tina. The meeting had been convened to discuss solutions to a 2021 armed robbery that killed several Zaghawa members in both Sudan and Chad.
Haroun Khater, a local leader in North Darfur, told Darfur24 that the areas of Dour, Abuliha, Abu Gamra, Umm Marahik, and several villages around Kornoi saw mass displacement as residents fled in fear of further violence, especially after several villages, including Tindobaya, were burned.
Khater said most of the displaced headed toward Tina and across the border into Chad, while others sought refuge in Kutum.
A Sudanese military source in Tina confirmed that hundreds of civilians have crossed into refugee camps in Chad, while others are staying at an immigration shelter in the town.
The source warned that the humanitarian and security situation is rapidly deteriorating due to military build-ups on both sides, increasing the risk of further clashes, despite the army’s intervention to separate the parties and the arrival of civilian delegations from the Zaghawa and other tribes in Sudan and Chad in an effort to defuse tensions.