Sudan’s Red Sea state communities promote social security

People in Red Sea state’s Suakin have agreed to promote peaceful coexistence in the area. On Wednesday, five people were injured in limited clashes in Port Sudan. The Red Sea state authorities arrested seven community leaders for murder and mutilation of the body.

On Thursday, people from various social and ethnic backgrounds held a meeting in Suakin near Port Sudan in Red Sea state, in which they agreed to strengthen peaceful coexistence among the communities of the town.

Activist leader Abdallah Barki told Radio Dabanga that “all parties will seriously work together to preserve the social fabric and will stop all those who seek to destabilise the social security in the town”.

The three-day eastern Sudan consultative conference that will start in Khartoum on Tuesday will be the basis for an inclusive peace conference on the region.

Fighting, arrests

The Red Sea state’s Doctors Committee announced that five people were injured in clashes with edged weapons in Port Sudan on Wednesday.

In a statement later that day, the medics reported that the injuries were minor and were treated at the emergency section of the hospital.

On Monday, Port Sudan reportedly witnessed remarkable calm after four days of tribal fighting. The authorities temporarily lifted the curfew in the harbour city on Monday, except for the districts where the clashes took place, journalist El Amin Sinada told Radio Dabanga.

On Wednesday, the Red Sea authorities arrested seven native administrators, politicians and activists, and charged them with murder of a person and mutilation of his body.

Thousands of people attended the burial at the Port Sudan Cemetery on Thursday. The family of the slain welcomed the arrests in a speech after the burial, and said they hope they will be convicted in a fair and just trial.

Port workers from the same ethnic background carried out a strike yesterday, demanding the release of the head of the Shipping and Unloading Association, one of community leaders who were arrested the day before.

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