East Darfur: Tighter security measures under State of Emergency

The wali (governor) of East Darfur, Mohamed Aliyu, announced that strict security measures have been put in place in the capital Ed Daein on Thursday, following looting and vandalism during the riots that broke out two weeks ago.

Only four official gates have been designated for entry and exit from the city, to "enable the security services and civil agencies to review all procedures for movement in and out of the city."

Aliyu announced the new measures to a crowd of merchants at Ed Daein market, following an inspection of the market. The governor directed Ed Daein locality and the Chamber of Commerce to organize the large market by widening the main roads inside the market to make the movement flow smoothly and by allocating places for street vendors. Aliyu also confirmed that there will be a financial prize for the cleanest and orderly squares in the market.

The President of the Chamber of Commerce praised the leader of merchants, Jabara El Jadi, for the efforts made by the security services and citizens in protecting the properties of merchants from looting and vandalism during the riots on February 10, in which a 10-year-old child was killed by stray bullets during clashes between student protesters and the security forces.

Jabara El Jadi announced the merchants "readiness to pay any requirements to secure the market and fight negative phenomena," expressing his thanks to the governor and the State Security Committee for their solid stand to protect the merchants' property from plunder, robbery, sabotage, and burning.

Last week, Sennar state, South, West, North, and East Darfur, and North and West Kordofan declared a State of Emergency following a number of demonstrations that took place in several parts of Sudan, to denounce deteriorating living conditions, inflation, and the scarcity of basic commodities.