KHARTOUM (AFP) – Clashes between rival Arab tribes in the Darfur region of western Sudan have killed at least 21 people since March 3, a local official said on Sunday.

Eleven people died in fighting between the Misseriya and Nuwayba tribes that broke out on Wednesday and 10 others were killed in renewed clashes on Saturday, said West Darfur province's governor, Abu al-Qassim Amam al-Hajj.

He pegged the fighting in the province to the death of a Sudanese army soldier from the Misseriya tribe in an ambush last month.

The Misseriya tribe blamed the rival Nuwayba tribe for the soldier's death and demanded financial compensation, he said.

Wednesday's fighting erupted in the village of Khor Ramla and spread to the nearby district of Zalingei where the official said the situation was "very tense."

"We have dispatched security forces and a reconciliation team, but we also need support from the humanitarian affairs commission in Khartoum and from aid groups" to resolve the conflict, he added.