KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Sudanese security forces fired tear gas as thousands of Hausa protesters marched in central Khartoum on Tuesday, days after tribal clashes killed dozens in southern Sudan’s Blue Nile state.
At least 105 people have been killed and 246 injured, according to Sudan’s health ministry, following clashes between members of the Hausa and Funj tribes that began last week, stemming from land disputes. The U.N. said 17,300 people were displaced.
“These aren’t just protests, what we want is to get to the presidential palace and ask that the injustice towards the Hausa stops,” said Haroun, a 22-year-old marcher.
Others held signs and chanted slogans calling for an end to oppression of the Hausa people.
Police, central reserve forces, the army and plainclothes officers were deployed on Khartoum’s Airport Road to block the protests.
Earlier this week, curfews were imposed in two Blue Nile cities, as well as the eastern city of Kassala, following protests there that resulted in the burning of government buildings and killing of an unverified number of people, according to the U.N.
The tensions have spread to other cities, as many people were seen moving from Blue Nile into neighbouring Sennar state to escape the fighting.
Funj-Hausa tensions boiled over last week over a dispute over land rights.
There has also been sporadic violence in eastern coastal regions and western Darfur despite a nationwide peace deal signed by some rebel groups in Juba in 2020.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, writing by Nafisa Eltahir, editing by Nick Macfie and Aurora Ellis)
