UPDATE - Tribal violence flares in Sudan’s Kassala amid arson attacks

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS MORE DETAILS

By Bahram Abdel Moneim

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) – Tribal violence flared in Kassala city in eastern Sudan on Monday amid arson attacks on government premises and shops, according to eyewitnesses.

Armed men from Hausa tribe attacked and set fire to government buildings, marketplaces and shops in the city, the witnesses said.

The violence grew out of tension between Hausa and Birta tribes in the Blue Nile state following the killing of a farmer in the town of Gaisan in the state on Friday.

A local medical source told Anadolu Agency that five people were killed and 16 others injured in the violence.

According to witnesses, army forces were deployed in the city in an attempt to stem the violence after police failed to control the situation.

Kassala Governor Khojali Hamad issued a decision to ban public gatherings and protests in an attempt to end violence in the city.

Sudanese authorities said that more than 65 people have been killed since the violence began in the Blue Nile state.

Local authorities have declared a state of emergency in the state and imposed a curfew in the towns of Damazin and Rosairis from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am in an effort to stem the violence.

Sudan has seen several bouts of tribal violence in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile regions in recent months amid a deep political crisis in the country since the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government, a move decried by political forces as a "military coup."

* Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report