New protests erupt in eastern Sudan and Darfur

Vigils in various parts of Sudan, calling for justice, security, and development, continued on Thursday. Port Sudan and Kassala in eastern Sudan, as well as Kass in South Darfur witnessed new protests.

The vigil in North Darfur’s Kabkabiya entered its ninth day. The protestors demand security, protection of the current agricultural season, and the dismissal of officials affiliated with the former regime of Omar Al Bashir.

The sit-in’s media committee reported that the sit-in leadership did not receive a response so far from the Council of Ministers to their memorandum delivered in Khartoum four days ago.

The committee also announced that all sit-ins in North Darfur will be transferred to the state capital El Fasher, to guarantee protection of the participants.

On Monday, at least 10 people died in a militia attack on the sit-in at the Fata Borno camp for the displaced in Kutum locality.

The sit-in in Ed Daein, capital of East Darfur, on Thursday received a delegation from the nearby El Neem camp for the displaced.

In eastern Sudan, the vigils in El Gedaref’s El Hawata and Kassala entered their second week.

The protesters in El Hawata, capital of El Rahad locality, will continue the sit-in until their demand for construction of a road linking El Hawata and El Faw has been met. They say the transport of people as well as food on the mud tracks is severely hindered during the rainy season.

New actions

On Thursday, angry residents of Kassala in eastern Sudan closed the bridge over the El Gash river that links the eastern and western parts of the town, in protest against the increase in the transportation tariff from SDG10* to SDG15.

The Kassala state government, the Domestic Transport Syndicate, and the Forces for Freedom and Change in Kassala agreed earlier this week to increase the tariff with five Sudanese Pound, to lift the strike of drivers of public transport vehicles that started more than a week ago. They complain that their business is not profitable under the current conditions.

In Port Sudan, capital of Red Sea state, drivers of travel buses closed the road leading to the bus station, in protest against the delay in the authorisation of their work.

After the lifting of the sit-in in Nierteti in Central Darfur, that started on June 28, neighbouring Kass in South Darfur organised a protest with similar demands: Security, protection of the current agricultural season, the dismissal of corrupt locality officials, in particular the Kass police chief, and the provision of better services.

Participants in the sit-in gave the authorities 72 hours to react, and said mass demonstrations will be held if their demands are not met, and “the police continue to evade the implementation of arrest warrants against those accused of crimes committed in the locality”.

* USD 1 = SDG 55.1375 at the time of posting. As effective foreign exchange rates can vary in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the daily middle US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).

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