34 dead in Port Sudan tribal strife

Tribal clashes in Port Sudan last week that led the ruling Sovereign Council to declare a State of Emergency in the city on Sunday, have claimed 35 lives, the Sudanese Doctor’s Central Committee reports.

In a statement on Monday, the Red Sea state branch of the Sudanese Doctor’s Central Committee announced that 15 were killed by gunfire, eight by burning, and the rest were killed with edged weapons such as knives and machetes.

The doctors’ committee says that 126 people were treated for “mild to moderate” injuries: 105 with stab wounds from edged weapons, 16 with gunshot wounds and five with burns. Nine cases needed emergency surgery.

Two of the gunshot victims are still in intensive care, while another person is recovering from surgery after suffering gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

State of Emergency

As reported by Radio Dabanga yesterday, the Sovereign Council decided on Sunday to dismiss the governor and the head of the security service of Red Sea state and to declare a State of Emergency in Port Sudan, as part of a series of measures to contain the clashes between Beni Amer tribesman and displaced Nuba from South Kordofan that broke out in the city on Wednesday.

The warring parties signed a truce on Saturday evening, when the number of victims of tribal clashes in the city had risen to more than 26 dead and about 200 injured, and dozens of houses burned.

The truce, which was signed in the presence of the governor and a delegation of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), provides for the intervention of regular forces and the obligation of the conflicting parties to pay a fine of SDG 6 million to the authorities in case of a breach of the agreement. Witnesses reported the burning of a limited number of houses on Sunday morning, after the signing of the agreement.

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