Sixth day of sit-ins, protests over eastern Sudan abduction

Gatherings have continued in front of the police station at Sinkat in Sudan’s in Red Sea state and on the national Sinkat-Port Sudan road for the sixth day in a row in protest against the abduction of Badri Taher (9) after being hit by a vehicle.

Journalist Osman Hashim told Radio Dabanga that the city is witnessing a state of tension after the failure of the police to resolve the case despite the passage of six days.

Residents of Sinkat blocked the Sinkat-Port Sudan road on Sunday in protest against the kidnapping of a boy last week.

Journalist Osman Hashim told Radio Dabanga that dozens of people staged a sit-in on the road at about 10 am on Sunday. “They burned tires as well.”

The demonstrators expressed their distress at the silence of the government authorities after the abduction of a nine-year-old boy by unknown assailants in Sinkat on Friday.

Government forces intervened and the protesters dispersed after local authorities pledged to investigate the case and search for the boy. The native administration gave the Government five days to find the kidnapped child.

Dozens of residents of the Red Sea called on the state Government to expedite the handling of security chaos and to deal transparently with the crimes that spread in the state.

They demanded in a memorandum submitted to the state Government and signed by dozens revealing the fate of the boy Badri Taher

According to one of the signatories to Radio Dabanga that the memorandum has warned of the spread of crimes in the state, including human trafficking and considered it an indicator of the absence of state authority and warned of its impact on the social fabric.

The memorandum has accused the Government agencies of indifference in dealing with crimes.

They have been criticised for their silence on the disappearances and the slow pace in dealing with their consequences.