Seventeen wounded in second attack on students in Khartoum

Violence between students continues to rock universities in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities. On Tuesday, members of the ruling party’s student wing renewed attacks on Darfuri students in Bahri University, again in one of the discussion corners.

The National Congress Party (NCP) students were accompanied by security troops when they attacked the students at 11am with knives and metal bars, before the police intervened to vacate Bahri University. Seventeen students were wounded, one of them told Radio Dabanga.

“They chased students on the roads of El Kadaro district and targeted Darfuri students while doing so,” a student explained.

Three other students also sustained injuries in an attack by NCP students on the discussion corner on Monday. They study at the Faculties of Law and Health.

Dozens of students from Darfur were detained after the head of the National Islamist Students Movement, the student wing of the ruling party, was killed in clashes at Sharg El Nil College on 29 April. Even a number of family members of Darfuri students were reportedly held in police custody in Omdurman last week, and at least three Darfuri students were detained in front of Bahri University.

A number of civil society activists have launched a campaign protect Darfuri students in Sudanese universities. In a statement, the activists called for the immediate cessation of the current abuse of NCP students against Darfuri students.

Also, the statement called for the immediate stop of detentions and enforced disappearances. The activists stressed that the violent NCP students should not be provided with immunity and hold accountable for the abuses in the universities. They advised universities to fee of all kinds of firearms and provide fair compensation for the affected students.