Tribal clashes in Sudan's restive Darfur region killed at least 48 people last week, a refugee official said Wednesday, the latest round of inter-communal violence to hit Sudan's neglected peripheries.

The fighting is the first reported large-scale tribal violence in Darfur since August — even as eruptions of tribal clashes over the past months have killed more than 350 people in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile province.

The clashes between the Misseriya and the Rezeigat tribesmen erupted near the village of Juguma in Central Darfur last Wednesday, following an armed robbery, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. Some 24 of the victims were killed on Saturday after unknown gunmen opened fire on people trying to mediate the conflict, OCHA said.

Thousands of people have fled to the neighboring village of Tuktuka, mostly women and children, OCHA added.

SUDAN MILITARY ARRESTS PRIME MINISTER, DISSOLVES GOVERNMENT: 2 PEOPLE DEAD IN PROTESTS

On Sunday authorities in Central Darfur a one-month state of emergency and imposed a nighttime curfew. Aid workers have been evacuated from the area and assistance operations have been suspended.

Adam Regal, a spokesman for a local organization that helps run refugee camps in Darfur, told The Associated Press that the death toll from last week’s clashes is likely higher.

The increase in violence across the south and west of Sudan comes as the country’s ruling generals and the main factions of the sprawling pro-democracy movement are engaged in internationally backed trying to revive the country’s democratic transition.

Sudan has been plugged into turmoil since the country leading military figure, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that upended the country’s short-run democratic transition following three decades of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir.

In a statement Wednesday, The Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change — an alliance of Sudan’s main pro-democracy groups — said it was expecting to sign a preliminary framework agreement with the military in the coming days, in a step toward ending the 13-month political impasse.

Sudan's military did not immediately respond to AP’s request seeking details on the agreement.

Last month, the two sides reportedly agreed verbally to a new draft constitution for a transitional period that would allow for a civilian-led government to lead Sudan to elections by 2024. However, several key issues remained, including the future role of Sudan’s various armed forces.

Analysts see the violence and growing insecurity in Sudan's far-flung regions as a product of the power vacuum caused by the military takeover, with the ruling generals’ clampdown focused on the capital, Khartoum, and the country’s heartland.

Former Vice President Mike Pence sits for an interview with the Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

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UPDATED 10:53 AM PT – Thursday, November 17, 2022

Mike Pence has announced that he will not support Donald Trump’s campaign for president in 2024.

When speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday, Pence seemed to disapprove of a Donald Trump 2024 presidential bid. Additionally, Pence claimed that the Americans he’s spoken with do not want to return to the Trump administration’s economic policies.

“The American people are looking for new leadership,” Pence remarked. “Leadership that will unite our country around our highest ideals. Leadership that will reflect the civility and respect that most Americans have for one another. You know, once you get out of politics, you learn pretty quickly that while our politics is very divided, the American people actually get along pretty well every day, and treat each other with kindness and with decency and with respect.”

Pence, who disagreed with Trump’s claims of a stolen presidential election in 2020, has distanced himself from the 45th president since then.

Later in the interview, the former vice-president went on to claim that voters want a new face for leadership in this country and there will be better options in the 2024 presidential election than Trump.

“In the Republican Party, whether it’s as a candidate or simply a part of the cause, I, I think we’ll have better choices than my old running mate,” Pence said. “I think America longs to go back to the policies that were working for the American people. But I think it’s time for new leadership in this country that will bring us together around our highest ideals.”  

Pence moved on to the nature of his relationship with President Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The former vice-president made the decision to confirm Joe Biden’s victory, despite protests from Trump and his supporters. In subsequent interviews, Pence has repeatedly stated that his actions were in compliance with the duties imparted to him in the Constitution.

“We parted amicably, as much as we could in the aftermath of those events,” the former vice president said. “We spoke from time to time after we both left office. But Jake, after the president rhetoric that he was using before that tragic day in January, criticizing me and others who had taken a stand for the Constitution of the United States, I just determined it was best to go our separate ways. And we have”.

In the meantime, Pence has been floated around as a potential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.