Sudan’s newly-formed Sovereign Council has sacked General Essam Abdel Farraj, the governor of Red Sea State in eastern Sudan in the wake of deadly ethnic clashes.
“The Sovereign Council announced relieving the Red Sea State governor along with the state’s chief of security service, reactivating the declared state of emergency in the state and ordering investigation in the bloody events,” said the council in a statement.
The council also vowed to punish those involved in the events and compensate those affected.
The Sudanese police announced that 17 people were killed in clashes between two tribes in Port Sudan city, capital of Red Sea State.
“Seventeen people have been killed in the events in Port-Sudan city and a number of citizens were injured,” said the Sudanese police’s press office on its official website.
The police also said that reinforcements from the police and central reserve police had been sent to the city to separate Bani Amer and Al-Nuba tribes.
The police added that the forces sent to the city include five officers and 85 soldiers, pointing out that the total number of the forces on the ground there reaches 300 soldiers and 30 vehicles
Last Thursday, Sudan’s sovereign council sent a delegation to Port-Sudan city to contain a deadly conflict that erupted there between the two tribes.
On Aug. 22, violent clashes erupted between members of Bani Amer and Al-Nuba tribes in Port-Sudan, where firearms and white weapons were used by the two sides.
The events of Port-Sudan are considered extension to similar previous confrontations that took place at a number of cities in eastern Sudan, including Gadarif, Khashmal-Qirba and Kassala, between the same two groups.
