Pro-ruling party students, opposition counterparts clash in Omdurman

By Sudanese opposition National Democratic Alliance radio

Jan 10, 2004 — Bloody clashes have broken out between students allied to the ruling National Congress [NC] party and those backing the opposition Popular National Congress [PNC] led by Dr Hasan al-Turabi, which broke away from the NC.

The clash, which took place at Omdurman University led to injuries on both sides while a partial fire was reported at the students hostels. However, police managed to calm the situation.

The PNC’s justice and constitution secretary, Kamal Umar said that the authorities have released all the 28 students allied to PNC who had been detained. Kamal further added that eight students backing the PNC were injured during the clash. On their part, the pro-NC students accused their pro-PNC counterparts of causing the disturbances due to students elections.

The elections, which were held at the university last Wednesday [7 January], were declared null and void by the higher commission for elections, as its legal requirements had not been fulfilled. The commission directed the elections to be held again after three weeks.

BBC Monitoring Middle East