Tear Gas Fired As Deadly Sudanese Tribal Clashes Prompt Khartoum Street Protests

• Sudanese security forces fire tear gas at Hausa demonstrators in Khartoum.
• Dispute between Hausas and Funj tribes erupted over land in Blue Nile state last week.
• At least 79 people have been killed and more than 200 injured, officials say.

Reuters, July 19, KHARTOUM – Days after tribal confrontations left dozens dead in southern Sudan’s Blue Nile state, security forces in Sudan fired tear gas at thousands of Hausa demonstrators as they marched through capital Khartoum on Tuesday.

In skirmishes between members of the Hausa and Funj tribes that started last week as a result of land disputes, the health ministry said late on Monday that at least 79 people had been dead and more than 200 injured.

Haroun, a 22-year-old marcher, said, “These aren’t just protests; what we want is to get to the presidential palace and urge that the injustice towards the Hausa ends.

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Others carried placards and sang phrases demanding an end to the Hausa people’s tyranny.

On Khartoum’s Airport Road, police, the army, central reserve forces, and plainclothes officers were stationed to quell the demonstrations.

Curfews were put in place earlier this week in two Blue Nile communities as well as the eastern city of Kassala as a result of protests there that led to the burning of governmental structures.

As a result of numerous people being observed fleeing the conflict from Blue Nile state towards the neighbouring Sennar state, the unrest has now reached other cities.

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Tensions between the Funj and the Hausa erupted after the Funj, who have traditionally lived in the Blue Nile state, claimed that the Hausa were attempting to grab a portion of their territory.

Despite a statewide peace agreement signed by certain rebel factions in Juba in 2020, there has also been intermittent bloodshed in eastern coastal districts and western Darfur.