Violence in Sudan’s turbulent Darfur region has left nearly 250 people dead, including at least 10 children.
About 100,000 people have also been forced to flee their homes, the UN refugee agency and other relief organisations say.
The clashes, over three days in two areas last week, left scores of properties destroyed or burnt to the ground.
Of those who fled their homes, about 3,500 crossed the border into eastern Chad, the UN agencies said over the weekend.
Government troops were patrolling the streets in the area but the UN said “severe” security gaps remained. An overnight curfew introduced in the area last week remained in force.
The provincial branch of the doctors’ union said that at the weekend, some displaced Darfuris had taken shelter at several medical centres in Al Genena, the provincial capital of West Darfur.
Others were trying to take over homes accommodating medical staff who rushed to Darfur from elsewhere in Sudan to help with treating the nearly 300 injured, the union said.
“Most of those using the houses are not from Genena," it said.
"So, if they lose their accommodation, they too will be homeless and they will leave. If that happens, medical care in the province will collapse.
The latest violence in Darfur has underlined the fragility of the security situation in a region about the size of Spain.
It has also laid bare the government’s inability to restore security years after the end of an insurgency that raged there in the 2000s, but the causes of which endure to this day.
“We must finally address the long-term root causes of the conflict and lay the foundations for lasting peace,” the UN said.
In the insurgency in the 2000s, Darfur’s ethnic Africans rebelled against the central government to demand an end to what they saw as discrimination by Khartoum and to secure a larger share of national resources.
The conflict, which generally died down, has left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million.
The government of ousted dictator Omar Al Bashir encouraged the division by forming alliances with Arab tribes.
Al Bashir, removed from power by his generals in 2019 after months of street protests against his rule, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.
The latest bout of violence, Darfur’s deadliest in years, came two weeks after a long-running peacekeeping mission by the UN and African Union ended operations.
A six-month withdrawal of the force will lead to a complete pull-out by June 30, leaving central and provincial governments in total control of security in the vast region for the first time since the force was established 13 years ago.
An “imminent risk” of more violence remains in Darfur “where decades-long ethnic and tribal tensions that were further stoked by the previous regime continues to fester,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in Geneva at the weekend.
She also called for a thorough and effective investigation by the government to bring the perpetrators to justice and “break the cycle of violence of armed citizens taking the law into their hands to avenge attacks on members of their community".
The UN said at least 160 were killed and 215 injured in clashes in and round Al Genena on January 16-17.
The violence, it said, was sparked by the murder of a tribal leader.
On January 18, at least 70 people were killed in Gereida, a town in south Darfur, in clashes. The violence there was triggered by the killing of a 10-year-old boy.
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BRAZIL SQUAD
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UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
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4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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