Seven Sudanese states declare State of Emergency

Sennar state, South, West, North, and East Darfur, and North and West Kordofan declared a State of Emergency on Thursday 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.

The wali (governor) of Sennar and Chairman of the Empowerment Elimination, Anti-Corruption, and Funds Recovery Committee, El Mahi Mohamed Suleiman, indicated that the security services have monitored the movements and meetings of the remnants of the former regime in separate places in Sennar state that resulted in the planning of incidents of robbery, looting, and encroachment on the property and money of citizens in defiance of the law.

He directed all security bodies to declare a state of maximum alert and to secure markets and public places in Sennar state.

The Sennar governor’s order also directed all honourable citizens to immediately report the whereabouts of the remnants of the former regime and monitor their movements and meetings. The Empowerment Elimination, Anti-Corruption, and Funds Recovery Committee said in a press release, on the same day, that it has gathered sufficient information about the activities of members of the former Sudanese regime under Omar Al Bashir.

Violent protests

On Monday, high school students from El Obeid in North Kordofan took to the streets in massive demonstrations against the high costs of living and transportation crisis. The demonstrations became violent as a number of buses were set on fire and various shops in the market were looted.

The wali of North Darfur, Mohamed Arabi, held employees from the former regime responsible for planning violent events that took place in El Fasher on Monday. The governor stressed that the violent events were not unique to North Darfur and compared it to the violence in Ed Daein, Nyala, El Obeid, and other places.

On Tuesday, shops were looted by protesters in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.

On Wednesday, protesters looted several shops south-east of the Grand Market and near the railway in Ed Daein, East Darfur. Abdallah Ishag Mohamed, an advisor to the governor of East Darfur, said that dozens of people had been arrested in possession of stolen goods.