In Sudan, protesters burn down an official building after a deadly tribal conflict

Published on: 23/10/2022 – 19:48 Denouncing the inaction of local authorities in the face of a deadly tribal conflict, thousands of demonstrators set fire to the seat of the Blue Nile government in Damazine on Sunday in southern Sudan. Thousands of demonstrators set fire to the seat of the Blue Nile government in Damazine, in southern Sudan, bordering Ethiopia, on Sunday (October 23rd) to denounce the inaction, according to them, of local authorities in the face of a tribal conflict which has leaves at least 200 dead, according to witnesses. The crowd first tried to force the entry of the army headquarters in the province to the cry of “Omda get out!” , reported these witnesses. “They finally turned to the local government headquarters and set it on fire, the fire is still ongoing,” said Abdel Qader Ibrahim, a resident reached by AFP by telephone. At the end of the afternoon, several residents contacted by AFP said they heard “shots in the center and east of Damazine”, the capital of Blue Nile state. At least “200 people died” during clashes for access to land on Wednesday and Thursday between the Hausa tribe, an African ethnic group, and rival clans in Wad al-Mahi, 500 kilometers south of Khartoum, a local official said on Saturday. “Some bodies have not yet been buried,” he added, calling on “humanitarian organizations to help” local authorities to bury the victims. “Hospitals are facing a serious shortage of medicine given the growing number of injured,” local Health Minister Gamal Nasser told AFP by telephone on Sunday. On Friday, Ahmed Al-Omda had declared a state of emergency in the Blue Nile and given full powers to the security forces to “stop the fighting”. Already on Thursday, several hundred people had demonstrated in Damazine to protest against the violence, while that from July to early October, at least 149 people were killed and 65,000 displaced in Blue Nile state, according to the UN. During the summer, the Hausa had mobilized across Sudan, saying they were discriminated by tribal law which prohibits them, because they have arrived last in the Blue Nile, to own land. The issue of access to land is very sensitive in Sudan, where agriculture and livestock represent 43% of jobs and 30% of GDP. Since the putsch on October 25 2021, of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, tribal conflicts are on the rise due, experts say, to the security vacuum created by the coup. Since January, they have left nearly 600 dead and more than 210,000 displaced , according to the UN. With AFP