KHARTOUM, Sudan
The governor of Sudan's southern Blue Nile state declared a state of emergency Friday, giving security forces full powers to stop ethnic fighting that has left 150 people dead.
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| Sudanese gather amid renewed ethnic clashes in al-Roseires, in Sudan's southern Blue Nile state |
The situation has worsened
since last year's coup by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
"The state of emergency
is decreed in the whole of Blue Nile State for 30 days," said the
provincial decree seen by AFP for the state bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia.
It called on commanders of the
police, army, intelligence services and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces
"to intervene by all possible means to stop inter-tribal fighting".
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Clashes in Blue Nile broke out
last week after reported disputes over land between members of the Hausa people
and rival groups, with residents reporting hundreds fleeing intense gunfire and
homes set ablaze.
The fighting has centred
around the Wad al-Mahi area near Roseires, some 500 kilometres (310 miles)
south of the capital Khartoum.
"A total of 150 people,
including women, children and elderly, were killed between Wednesday and
Thursday," said the head of Wad al-Mahi hospital, Abbas Moussa.
"Around 86 people were also wounded in the violence."
The authorities had imposed a
night-time curfew on Monday after 13 people were killed in clashes between the
Hausa and rival groups, according to the UN, but the violence then flared
again.
On Thursday, several hundred
people demonstrated in the Blue
Nile capital, Damazin, shouting: "No to violence". Some
demanded the state's Governor Ahmed al-Omda Badi be sacked, accusing him of not
protecting them.
From July to early October, at
least 149 people were killed and 65,000 displaced in Blue Nile, according to
the UN.
The Hausa have mobilised
across Sudan,
claiming they are discriminated against by tribal law which forbids them to own
land in Blue Nile because they were the last group to arrive there.
The issue of access to land is
highly sensitive in impoverished Sudan, where agriculture and livestock account
for 43 percent of employment and 30 per cent of GDP.
Sudan has been grappling with
deepening political unrest and a spiralling economic crisis since last year's
military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The military power grab
upended a transition to civilian rule launched after the 2019 ouster of
strongman Omar al-Bashir, who ruled for three decades.
A surge in ethnic violence in
recent months has highlighted the security breakdown in Sudan since the coup.
More than 546 people were
killed and over 211,000 forced to flee their homes in inter-communal conflicts
across the country from January to September, according to the UN.
The UN mission in Sudan said
it was "alarmed" by the "resurgence of conflict" in Blue
Nile, a region awash with guns that is still struggling to rebuild after
decades of civil war.
Meanwhile, thousands of
Sudanese took to the streets Friday to renew protests nearly a year after
al-Burhan's coup.
Demonstrators gathered in
Khartoum and its suburbs Friday, shouting "no to military rule",
"the people want the fall of the regime" and for the military to
return "to the barracks", AFP journalists said.
Security forces had cordoned
off the capital early in the morning, shutting off access to bridges, as the
resistance committees responsible for mobilising against the coup had for days
been calling for protests on social media.
At least 117 people have been
killed in the protests against military rule since the power-grab, according to
pro-democracy medics.
Friday also marked the
58th anniversary of the first uprising that toppled a military dictatorship in
the country that has a history riddled with coups, only seeing brief spells of
democratic rule over the decades. - AFP
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