Hundreds Protest In Sudan Over Insecurity

Hundreds of Sudanese held a protest Friday in the Central Darfur state calling on the government to secure their properties following recent incidents of killings and looting, witnesses said.

Last week, unidentified armed men killed three farmers near the town of Nertiti in Central Darfur, triggering the ire of residents who long complained of lack of security in the area.

“We have been here for four days and we will continue our protest until our demands are met,” protester Adam Haroun told AFP on Friday at a sit-in outside a government office in Nertiti.

Mohamed Eissa, another protester, slammed the inaction of security forces saying “they are not carrying out their role to protect the area from gangs”.

Later on Friday, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said a government delegation from Khartoum will visit the region to address the demands of the protesters.

“The demands of our people in Nertiti in Central Darfur are fair and well deserved,” the premier wrote on Twitter.

Darfur was the scene of a bitter conflict that broke out in 2003 between African minority rebels, complaining of marginalisation, and government forces under ousted president Omar al-Bashir.

The fighting killed 300,000 people and displaced 2.5 million others, according to the United Nations.

Bashir was ousted in April 2019 by the military following months of mass protests against his rule, triggered mainly by economic hardship.

He is wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court over charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

AFP