Death toll of Port Sudan clashes reaches 37 dead: group

August 26, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – At least 37 people have been killed during the intercommunal clashes in the capital of the Red Sea State Port Sudan in the two last week, a local doctors group said on Monday, in an apparent resurgence of ethnic clashes between the Nuba and Beni Amer tribes.

Previous police reports said 16 people were killed in the conflict between the ethnic groups. Also, the Sovereign Council sacked the State governor and the state director of the intelligence service as some pointed to the failure of the security services to stop the bloody violence.

The pro-democracy group Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) Port Sudan Section said that a hospital reported the death of 34 people and 126 wounded, while two other hospitals registered three deal and some 75 wounded.

“8 people the dead were burned and 25 killed by gunshot wounds, while the rest were stabbed with white weapons.” said the CCSD in a report seen by the Sudan Tribune.

Sudanese army forces have been deployed in the streets of the city to contain the tribal conflict, after being reinforced by additional troops from the capital Khartoum.

In reaction to the tribal violence, opposition groups from eastern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains issued statements condemning the clashes and called for peaceful coexistence between the two groups.

In a joint statement three groups of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front, the SPLM-N (Agar), the Beja Congress and the United Popular Front for Liberation and Justice said the intercommunal violence in Port Sudan is a “disgrace to the Sudanese revolution”.

The three groups further accused the remnants of the former regime of being behind these clashes and called on the Prime Minister to intervene personally to stop this fighting.

For its part, SPLM-N (al-Hilu) said that the events in Port Sudan reflect the racist orientations and policies of the Sudanese state since independence.

“What we see in Port Sudan is a prelude to a larger and more comprehensive conflict, fuelled by the government and could reach other areas in the future, given the proliferation of weapons distributed by the state,” said the group.

There are reports that Beni Amer, for the first time, used fire weapons in their attacks on the Nuba neighbourhood in Port Sudan.

(ST)