Al-Jazeera correspondent in Sudan reported that the Sudanese security forces fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators at the Bashdar station, south of Khartoum, while the Sudanese authorities announced a curfew in two towns in Blue Nile State after bloody tribal clashes.
A group of demonstrators gathered at the Pashadar station to head towards the presidential palace in central Khartoum;
This was part of a demonstration called by the so-called "resistance committees in Khartoum".
On Sunday afternoon, demonstrations began - called by the resistance committees that lead the popular movement - to demand an end to military rule and the handover of power to civilians.
Heavy security deployment
Sudanese security forces deployed in the streets of Khartoum today, in anticipation of demonstrations called by activists opposing the authority installed by the army chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and placed concrete blocks on the bridges linking the capital with its suburbs to block the main roads leading to the army headquarters, which is the usual place for demonstrations.
Eyewitnesses reported that military forces were deployed in the Roseires area, which was the epicenter of violence on Saturday.
Opponents say the key to solving the problem lies in "the generals and their former rebel allies, who are accused of exacerbating ethnic and tribal tensions for personal gain".
Since October 25, 2021, Sudan has witnessed popular protests calling for the return of democratic civilian rule, and rejecting exceptional measures taken by the head of the Transitional Sovereign Council in Sudan, and those who reject it consider them a "military coup".
– Coup forces crackdown on peaceful protesters in Sharwani #millions of July 17 |
#July17March pic.twitter.com/FQ7uQPfvlV
— Resistance Committees (@ResistCommittee) July 17, 2022
Bloody tribal clashes
Yesterday, the Sudanese authorities announced a curfew at night in two towns in the state of Blue Nile in the southeast of the country near the border with Ethiopia, after tribal clashes erupted over days, which left 60 dead and 157 injured, according to the Ministry of Health.
A statement issued by the government of the Blue Nile State said that the clashes spread to several towns since last Wednesday, after the killing of a farmer, before the security forces launched a campaign of arrests and control the situation.
The statement of the Nile State government added that the number of injured reached 157, while 16 stores were destroyed, and a night curfew was announced in the cities of Damazin and Roseires.
Yesterday, Saturday, clashes renewed in several locations in the south and center of the state, especially in the areas of Quneis, Rusayris and Qaisan.
"Promoters of hate speech and racism"
For his part, the governor of Blue Nile State, Ahmed Al-Omda, blamed those he described as advocates of sedition and inciters of hate speech and racism, responsible for the tribal conflict.
In a tweet on Twitter, the head of the United Nations Mission to Support the Transition in Sudan, Volker Peretz, expressed his sadness and concern over the violence, and urged communities in Blue Nile to exercise restraint and refrain from revenge, as he put it.
The civil conflict was renewed in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile in 2011, and affected about one million people, after a long history of fighting between 1983 and 2005.