January 21, 2021 (KHARTOUM) - West Darfur State approved on Thursday security plan to protect civilians after the bloody tribal violence that resulted in the death of 160 people and the injury of 215 others.

Following the attacks of 16 January by armed Arab tribesmen on Krinding camp outside El-Geneina, the Sudanese government swiftly deployed troops in the in and outside the state capital but the violent incident continued to take place in several parts of the state.

The West Darfur Governor Mohamed Abdallah Aldoma approved a security plan to restore security the eight localities of the state, said the official news agency SUNA, on Thursday.

According to Aldoma, a joint force consisting of police, security service, army, the Rapid Support Forces, and Central Reserve under the command of the state army command will be deployed across the state particularly in the troubled neighbourhoods.

The state capital, El Geneina has been divided into areas that need urgent and immediate interventions, and others where are deployed stationary forces to arrest outlaws.

He disclosed that large additional forces are on their way to the state the centre. The first military reinforcements came from the other Darfur states.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Zakaria Secretary-General of West Darfur Government said that they opened 42 centres to shelters over about 50,000 displaced persons, including children, women and the elderly.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with the Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Thursday to discuss the security situation in West Darfur, said a statement released by the Sudanese cabinet.

The Sudanese premier briefed the UN chief "about the military and security reinforcements that the government dispatched to the West Darfur State, and the legal measures that are being taken to hold accountable all those who caused the violence," said the statement.

Also, he told Guterres about the government plans to build community peace and to form the national mechanism to protect civilians.

In a related development, the British humanitarian group Save the Children said they plan to ramp up its humanitarian response in West Darfur in coming days, sending an Emergency Health Team to set up mobile clinics in areas with large numbers of displaced families.

The team will also be distributing hygiene kits and establishing water and sanitation services to help prevent the spread of disease, as well as running mobile child protection services and a family tracing and reunification program.

(ST)