Bloody Violence in the Blue Nile State .. Thousand Flee, Dozens Killed

By:Al-Sammani Awadallh

Fighting between Hausa and Berta has killed dozens of people in the Blue Nile State pushing the authorities to impose a curfew in a bid to reduce the bloody violence.
The clashes sparked in the three localities of Gaissan, Roseries and Wad Al-Mahi, following the murder of one person during an argument between two people from the two tribal groups.
Also the incident took place as tensions increased recently in the region following calls to recognize a chiefdom for the Hausa ethnic group who originate from Nigeria but settled in the region for a long time.
The bloody tribal violence escalated resulting to the burning of more than 16 shops and the injury of dozens on the streets, besides a circulated video which shows some parties detaining dozens of women, children and youth from the other party.
The governor of the Blue Nile State, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Al-Omda Badi affirmed the readinessof the government to resolve all the problems peacefully.
He enumerated the efforts exerted by his government to resolve the issue and preserve the social security in the region, affirming their preparedness to bring about control in all the conflict areas.
He pointed in press statements to the steps taken including imposing the curfew in Damazin and Roseries to achieve peace and security among the citizens.
He affirmed that the stability of the region is on top of his priorities to enhance the cultural and social diversity which distinguish the region, calling on the citizens not to listen to the rumors, directing the people to distance themselves from the ethnic conflicts in general, pointing out to the historical inheritance of the area and its contribution in preserving the diversity.
For is part, the UNITAMS Chief, Dr, Volker called the citiens of the Blue Nile State to self-constraint and stop the revenge process.
Several Sudanese civil society organization stated evacuating the children and women to safe havens in coordination with the government nesides providing fresh food to them.
The representative of the civil society organizations Ibrahim Modi called on the local administrations and the dignitaries to play a positive role in mending the social fabric in the region.
Modi said that his forum is ready to provide all possible assistance in order to achieve stability in the region.
Mrs Shazalia Hassan, the secretary general of Peace Coexistence Group said that what is happening is very bad espciallythat the people of the Blue Nile region are known of their sticking to religion and Sudanese ethics.
She called on the local components, local administrations and regular forces to stop this bloody tribal violence.
She affirmed that the social fabric in in danger now calling the citizens to distance themselves from the hate speech and to accept each other.
She stressed the necessity of organizing an urgent peaceful coexistence conference to include all the components of the region to come out with recommendations which might lead to non-repetition of such bloody tribal violence.

Reports from the Minisry of health in the State revealed the death of 33 and 108 injuries besides 5 injured persons were transferred outside the region.

The state authorities issued a statements saying that 31 people were killed during the tribakl violence. But some officials said there was ab error in the statement as they neabt ti write 13 people.
The authorities deployed the army and Rapid Support Forces in the troubled areas to prevent the renewal of attacks.
The tribal violence was condemned by the political groups that called for calm and self-restraint.