At Least 25 Killed In Port Sudan Protest -Tribal Official

KHARTOUM, Jan 30, 2005 (AP) – A Beja tribal representative Sunday said at least 25 people were killed and 196 injured in Saturday’s clashes in Port Sudan , raising the death and injury toll provided by the tribe.

A U.N. spokeswoman Saturday claimed police in Port Sudan fired on peaceful demonstrators, members of the Beja tribe who have complained of neglect in the impoverished area. The Red Sea governor on Saturday said 14 people had died in the riots, while a tribal representative in Saudi Arabia had claimed that 23 were killed.

Amina Dhirar, head of the Beja Congress movement in Khartoum, told The Associated Press that at least 25 demonstrators had been killed and said the figure could be higher since “some parents buried their dead, preferring not to bring them to the morgue.”

The Beja Congress, an exiled group representing numerous eastern Sudan tribes, rejected a Jan. 17 accord between the government and opposition groups to end a 16-year low-intensity conflict. The group said the accord failed to meet its demands for a share of wealth and power in the northeastern region.

The ruling political party in Khartoum said it sent a high-level delegation representing Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir to Port Sudan to “express (his) condolences” and to assess the situation.

Dhirar said eight of the injured were in “critical condition” and that police have detained 101 Beja tribesmen in Port Sudan .

“We as a party think that this peace agreement and the division of wealth and power has ignored us altogether,” said Dhirar, who said the poor region had few education or health services. Dhirar said the modernization of the Port Sudan seaport had raised unemployment rates.

Local authorities in Port Sudan said schools would be closed until Feb. 3 as a result of tensions in the city.