Tribal clashes in Sudan's Kordofan kill 20

Tribal clashes in Sudan's West Kordofan state have killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens more, witnesses told AFP on Friday. 

The violence broke out late Thursday between members of the Arab Hamar and Misseriya tribes near the town of Al-Nahoud, some 560 kilometres (350 miles) southwest of Khartoum.  

"I saw 20 bodies and other wounded people taken to the hospital and tensions continued into Friday morning," witness Hamdan Mohamed told AFP. 

Another witness, Ahmed Adam, said the violence was triggered by "a dispute over a plot of agricultural land". 

Ethnic or tribal disputes over land, and water and grazing rights, often break out in Sudan's far-flung regions, fanned in some areas by drought and desertification.

They became more deadly during the three-decade rule of president Omar al-Bashir who armed some Arab tribes to fight ethnic minority rebels demanding an end to marginalisation by his Arab-dominated regime.

The transitional government which took power after his ouster in April 2019 has signed peace agreements with most of Sudan's remaining rebel groups but many of the tribes are still heavily armed.

Last month, at least 36 people were killed in clashes in South Darfur state between members of the Arab Al-Taisha tribe and the non-Arab Fallata ethnic group.