Khartoum, Aug. 12, (dpa/GNA) – At least 25 people have been killed during clashes between ethnic groups in eastern Sudan, a doctors‘ association said on Wednesday.
Almost 90 others have been injured since fighting began between the Bani Aarem and Nuba ethnic groups in the port city Port Sudan on Sunday, an important international trade harbour on the Red Sea, the Central Doctors’ Committee said in a statement.
Government officials placed the city of roughly half a million people under complete lockdown on Wednesday, prohibiting residents to leave their homes.
Security forces have meanwhile been sent to Port Sudan in an attempt to get the violence under control.
Clashes between ethnic groups are common in the volatile nation on the Horn of Africa and were strategically fueled by former autocrat Omar al-Bashir who ruled the poverty-stricken nation for three decades.
Ethnic conflicts have however not diminished since al-Bashir was ousted in April 2019, among other reasons because the current transitional government has left a power vacuum.
An estimated 170 people have been killed during ethnic violence, mostly in the western Darfur region, since Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok has been leading the nation and paving the way for democratic elections.
GNA