Sudan: Protester Dies From Injury in Darfur Clashes

Published May 6th, 2019 - 08:35 GMT
Sudanese protesters rally outside the army headquarters in Khartoum on May 4, 2019 to demand that the ruling military council hand power to a civilian adminstration. (ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)
Sudanese protesters rally outside the army headquarters in Khartoum on May 4, 2019 to demand that the ruling military council hand power to a civilian adminstration. (ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)
Highlights
A Sudanese protester has died from injuries suffered in clashes between security forces and demonstrators.

A Sudanese protester has died from injuries suffered in clashes between security forces and demonstrators from a camp for displaced people in conflict-wracked Darfur, medics said on Sunday.

Violence erupted on Saturday when crowds of protesters from camp Attash clashed with soldiers and paramilitary forces in Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur state, the official SUNA news agency reported.

"One person died from injuries suffered in the abdomen during the dispersal of protesters in Nyala by security forces," a doctors' committee that is part of the protest campaign against the country's military rulers said in a statement.

A medic from a hospital in Darfur where the protester had been treated confirmed his death.

Deadly clashes have rocked Sudan since December when protests broke out against the iron-fisted rule of veteran leader Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted by the army on April 11.

Officials say at least 65 people have died in protest-related violence.

On Saturday, SUNA reported that four members of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force had been "critically wounded" in clashes with protesters from camp Attash, and that there were no casualties among the demonstrators.

But the umbrella group leading the nationwide protests, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, gave a different version of Saturday's events, condemning what it said was an attack by the army on protesters. 

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Darfur was torn by years of conflict that erupted in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Khartoum's Arab-dominated government, accusing it of economic and political marginalisation.

The United Nations says about 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003 and another 2.5 million people displaced in the western region.

Bashir himself is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur, which he denies.

In recent years Darfur has seen an overall fall in violence, but on April 13 clashes were reported in the Kalma camp for displaced people that left 14 people dead, according to state media.

The Sudanese regime is alleged to have recruited, funded and armed the Janjaweed who committed mass rape, murder, war crimes and genocide in West Darfur and other regions, according to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Thousands of Sudanese have continued to protest, not only in Khartoum but across the country, for an end to martial rule and the formation of a civilian-led transitional government, after successfully overthrowing Bashir last month.

This article has been adapted from its original source.

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