Govt accused of ‘fuelling conflict in eastern Sudan’

The Eastern Sudan Revolutionary Alliance has accused the government of fuelling the conflict in the region by “irresponsible interference”, and treating the conflicts as tribal.

At a press conference on Wednesday, members of the alliance read out a memorandum addressed to the Sovereign Council, accusing the new government of continuing in the same manner as the former regime in firing on peaceful demonstrators.

The memorandum demanded that the prime minister be held accountable for the decision to dismiss Saleh Ammar, Governor of Kassala, and the subsequent bloodshed in Kassala and Red Sea state.

The alliance also called for the cessation of violations by military forces in the region, the prosecution of those involved in the October 15 events in Kassala and in spreading hate speech, the dismissal of the Kassala police chief, and the head of the state government, and the restructuring of the Forces for Freedom and Change in Khartoum and eastern Sudan.

Protest

Members of the Revolutionary Alliance carried out a protest in Kassala yesterday, demanding accountability for the government forces responsible for the killing of eight people in the town.

In the protest, which extended in the form of a human chain in the town market, the participants carried banners calling for retribution and the dismissal of the secretary-general of the Kassala government, the director of the Kassala Police Department, and the head of police.

They called on the international community to intervene to stop what they described as ethnic cleansing, and they also condemned “the arbitrary suspension of employees on an ethnic basis”.

The Kassala Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) in Kassala have demanded Sudan’s prime minister to dismiss the acting Kassala Governor Fathelrahman El Amin.

In separate statements on Wednesday, they criticised what they described as administrative confusion and lack of awareness of the complexities that Kassala suffers from, noting that Hamdok made three decisions on one issue within 48 hours.

The FFC referred to his uncontrolled statements in the media and his assignment of a person belonging to the ousted regime as the executive director of the governor’s office.

Leading members of the SPA noted that the governor issued decisions on three issues, namely, the directors of the Ministry of Education, the Bureau of Service Affairs, and the Director of Wad El Helew locality, then he retracted them.

They demanded the speedy appointment of the governor and the dismissal of the appointed governor “before anything bad happens”.

After his return from a month-long stay in Khartoum on November 7, Sayed Tirik, chairman of the High Council of Beja Nazirs and Independent Chieftains in eastern Sudan, said that their meetings with the leaders of the Sovereign Council resulted in the freezing of the eastern Sudan track of the Juba Peace Agreement and the dismissal of the governor of Kassala.

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