Increased insecurity in Kassala and South Kordofan sparks resistance

The inhabitants of Kassala complained about the deterioration of health services and the increasing insecurity in the city. In South Kordofan, resistance committees threaten with protests and roadblocks if the perpetrators of recent attacks are not arrested soon.

Residents of Kassala told Radio Dabanga about the increase in night-time armed robberies and violent looting incidents in the city's neighbourhoods.

They pointed out that a number of hotels and shops were plundered by a group of men armed with Kalashnikovs. They mentioned an incident where a group of armed men stormed a shop, beat up the staff, and robbed them of their mobile phones.

With regards to the health situation, people revealed that the emergency department of the Kassala Teaching Hospital had stopped daily in the afternoon due to the lack of available doctors. They also mentioned that a partial strike in the surgical emergency department for one day a week is forcing accident victims to resort to private hospitals or hospitals in neighbouring cities.

Last year, there were large sit-in protests in Kassala as well in which protestors denounced violent attacks that had occurred in the area and demanded the dismissal of the director of the security apparatus and several others who had worked for the now-deposed regime of dictator Omar Al Bashir.

South Kordofan robberies

In South Kordofan, resistance committees from Reif Ashargi locality called on the local government to immediately arrest the perpetrators of the El Hujairat attack, which killed one person and injured 4 others on Wednesday. Three of the victims were from the El Kweik area in Reif Ashargi.

The resistance committees issued a statement yesterday in which they demand that the state government arrests the perpetrators within 24 hours. They also demand that the road between Kadugli and Reif Ashargi should be secured and that a security force should be employed in the region.

The incident had already triggered protests in Kadugli, in which protesters voiced their anger about the ongoing security issues and violent robberies in the area.

The committees threatened with the escalation of protests and the closure of the main road between Kadugli, El Kweik, and Delling in case their demands were not implemented within the prescribed period.

According to sources in the region, the asphalt road that connects the cities of Kadugli, El Kweik, and Delling to El Obeid in North Kordofan frequently witnesses armed robberies and looting incidents.