Bashir discusses security situation with East Darfur governor

May 9, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese president Omer Al Bashir discussed on Wednesday the security situation with the governor of East Darfur Abdel Hamid Musa Kasha for the first time since his appointment last April.

The newly established state of East Darfur was the scene of fierce fighting between rebel groups and government forces. On 17 April; the army retook Muhajeria and Labado from a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minnawi.

The official news agency SUNA said Al Bashir reaffirmed his support to the institutions of the new state with all the necessary means in order to enable it to fully assume its duties.

Speaking to the press following the meeting; Kasha said they discussed the security situation and added that Bashir pledged to provide East Darfur state with the needed financial support.

He further said that the president suggested some ideas and measures to be implemented in East Darfur to enhance the security situation there, and demanded the state government to build local infrastructures and to achieve tribal reconciliations.

Kasha had initially declined, in January 2012, the position of East Darfur governor arguing that the national government would not give him the means to construct ministries and public establishments

Established on 10 January 2012 in line with the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), the East Darfur state is the homeland of Rizaigat tribal groups who clashed with Beni Hussein last March.

(ST)