Sudanese clash in the outskirts of Khartoum for the second day

KHARTOUM, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Northern and southern Sudanese clashed in Khartoum’s outskirts on Tuesday, residents said, in the second day of violence after the death of southern leader John Garang, a former rebel who forged peace with the north.

Monday’s violence, in which shops were looted and cars torched and smashed, claimed at least 36 lives, a security official said earlier. He said more than 100 people were in hospital with injuries from Monday’s riots.

Central Khartoum was quiet on Tuesday, but residents and Sudanese journalists in a shantytown 10 km (6 miles) south of the city centre reported fresh clashes.

“There are clashes in the streets … between the northerners living in the area and the southerners who attacked,” one resident told Reuters by telephone.

Witnesses said police entered the area and a number of helicopters could be seen flying above the shantytown.

Garang, a key figure in a January peace deal and leader of southern Sudan’s rebel movement during its two decades of war with the government in Khartoum, died when the helicopter he was travelling in went down in bad weather at the weekend.

The death of Garang, who was sworn in as Sudan’s first vice-president on July 9, was announced on Monday.

There has been no suggestion of foul play.

ARMOURED VEHICLES DEPLOYED

But some southerners fear his absence could weaken their hand in governing Africa’s largest country, divided between an Arabised Muslim north and the south, which is a mix of African ethnicities with Christians, animists and Muslims.

Armoured vehicles deployed at strategic points of the capital, such as bridges and in areas where rioters had rampaged. Residents said traffic was quieter than normal in central Khartoum but that sirens wailed from emergency vehicles.

The streets had emptied during a curfew imposed between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

A Western diplomat cited reports of a death toll of 42 from Monday’s violence, which could not be immediately confirmed.

Vigilante groups made up of 10 to 15 people with sticks gathered in some locations of central Khartoum overnight to protect their areas from further violence, witnesses said.

Witnesses said southerners, who have long claimed that the northern government discriminated against them, attacked northern Arabs when they took to the streets on Monday.

“They (rioters) burnt all the shops in this area. We have lost too many goods. Today the streets are safe,” said Mohamed Hassan, owner of a mobile phone shop looted in central Khartoum.

Many shops were burnt out in downtown Khartoum. Two car hire firms said several of their vehicles were smashed up.

“There are shards of glass lying on the streets,” said taxi driver Seif el-Din.