Sudan’s newly formed sovereign council declared a state of emergency in the city of Port Sudan on Sunday, after deadly tribal clashes in the city killed at least 16 people, reported Reuters.
Clashes between the tribes of Bani Amer and Nuba in Port Sudan, the capital of the Red Sea state, erupted on Wednesday last week and continued into Saturday morning, a police statement said.
Brigadier Altahir Abuhaja, the spokesman for the sovereign council, said the acting governor and the head of the national security service for the eastern Red Sea state, of which Port Sudan is the capital, were both dismissed after the incident took place.
“The sovereign council decided to relieve the governor of the Red Sea and the head of its security apparatus (from their duties),” the country’s transitional ruling body said in a statement, adding that it has also “ordered the activation of a state of emergency (in the Red Sea state) and the formation of an investigating committee”.
The statement said the authorities had detected the use of firearms in the fighting for the first time and this reveals the presence of internal and external interferences to fuel the conflict.
The clashes follow the signing of a power-sharing agreement earlier this month. The new military-civilian sovereign council along with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was sworn in last week.
Two members of the sovereign council had visited Port Sudan on Thursday and met with tribal leaders in an attempt to bring an end to the fighting.
According to the power-sharing agreement states, the sovereign council can declare a state of emergency only after a request from the cabinet, which is yet to be formed. After getting a nod from the cabinet, the state of emergency must then be approved by the legislature within the next 15 days.
