Sudan opposition blame junta and SPLM-N Agar, for Blue Nile hostilities

The Forces for Freedom and Change-Central Council (FFC-CC) hold the 2021 “coup authorities” responsible for the crimes that occurred during the clashes in Blue Nile state, Kassala, and in other areas. The Communist Party of Sudan lay the blame at “attempts by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction led by Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar) to seize power and disrupt the fragile peace in the region”.

The FFC-CC said in a statement yesterday that “there are historical roots for these violent events, but that they could be ignited these days because of the absence of a national project of the coup authority, which lacks any popular political support”.

According to the Communist Party of Sudan “the explosive situation in the southern Blue Nile region comes as a result of the attempts of the leadership of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction led by Malik Agar (SPLM-N Agar) to seize power and disrupt the fragile peace in the region.

“That what is happening in the region is a clear indication of the failure of the Juba Peace Agreement,” the party said in a statement yesterday.

The El Roseires Resistance Committees also pointed to the hostility between supporters of the SPLM-N Agar and those who support the faction of Abdelaziz El Hilu in neighbouring South Kordofan. On Friday, they described the violence as “a spill-over of a conflict between the two SPLM-N factions of the SPLM-N in a press statement and accused the “coup authorities’ of “negligence of their duties because they ignored warning signs and chose not to act even after the first attacks”.

On Monday, Malik Agar, member of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and head of the SPLM-N-Agar faction that has its base in Blue Nile state said he would send reinforcements from Khartoum, “to act in a neutral manner, prevent ethnic and racial polarisation in the region, and end the conflicts”.

Social media activists have accused Agar of worsening the situation in the state by appointing relatives to a number of government posts.

The Journalists Initiative Against Tribal Violence on Monday called on the authorities in Khartoum to intervene urgently to stop the bloodshed, and to take measures to prevent the violence that threatens the entire Blue Nile state and extends its effects to all of Sudan.

In a press statement the Initiative said that the fighting “is the result of the hate speech that was widespread during the past days. The authorities should have anticipated these results and taken measures to prevent the clashes.”

According to a report by the Middle East Eye (MEE) net on Monday, the bulk of the fighting took place between the Hausa and El Hamaj African tribal groups. The fiviolence was partly triggered by conflicts of land ownership and control, though experts said that the Khartoum government was partly to blame.

The clashes began in Bakuri village, south-east of Ed Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state, last week when a farmer was killed by unknown armed men. He belonged to the El Hamaj, who fought with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) against the regime of Omar Al Bashir (1989-2019).

Sources from the two tribes told MEE the violence spread rapidly from Bakuri to Ganis East and from there to Amoura, Um Darafa, and to El Roseires and Ed Damazin, where the bloodshed reached its peak on Friday.