Beja conference against eastern track of Juba Peace Agreement

Thousands of people attended a conference on the eastern Sudan track of the Juba Peace Agreement in Teweit, Telkok locality, Kassala. It was organised under the patronage of Beja Sheikh Ali Betai and the sheikh of the Hamashkoreib Koran schools.

The conference emphasised the unity of Sudan, the need to encourage a conciliatory discourse, and rejection of hate speech and racism.

The closing statement of the conference on Saturday, read by Ibrahim Adam, representative of the nazirs* of the El Amarar clan, recommended to organise a consultative conference in accordance with what was stipulated in eastern Sudan track protocol of the Juba Peace Agreement. The closing statement also emphasised the need to acknowledge citizenship as a basis for rights and duties, the need to strengthen the rule of law, and the need to strengthen the civil service so it can repair the social fabric.

The conference condemned the Kassala government for preventing Al Jazeera news channel and Anatolia Agency to attend the conference. Participants from certain localities were barred from the conference as well.

Beja nazirs have opposed the Eastern Track of the Juba Peace Agreement since it was agreed upon by the Sudanese government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel alliance in Juba in February.

Khartoum

Activists from eastern Sudan organised a protest in front of the Public Prosecution in Khartoum, demanding retribution for both the victims of recent violence in eastern Sudan, and the victims of the January 2005 Port Sudan Massacre.

The protesters showed weapons collected from militants in Red Sea state. They handed over a memorandum and demanded an investigation into the violent events that followed the dismissal of Kassala governor Saleh Ammar, persecution of thosee responsible for the violence, and an inventory list of property lost in the neighbourhoods and markets in the Red Sea state during the violence.

At the beginning of October, eastern Sudan nazirs blamed the Eastern Track of the Juba Peace Agreement for the violence in Red Sea state and Kassala in August. In October, tribal clashes erupted in Suakin and Port Sudan in Red Sea state between opponents and supporters of the dismissed Kassala governor The fighting left six people dead and 20 others injured. In Kassala town, the police used tear gas to disperse protestors.

* A nazir is a state-appointed administrative chief of a tribe or clan, according to the Native Administration system in Sudan.

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