Four protestors were allegedly shot and killed and six others injured by supporters of the new Kassala state Governor Saleh Ammar on Thursday in eastern Sudan’s Kassala town, according to an eye witness.
One of the six injured people succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital, a witness said.
The protestors were calling on Sudan’s leaders for Ammar to be replaced, saying that he was unqualified for the job.
According to Ibrahim Hassan, an assistant lecturer at Kassala University, Ammar’s supporters took advantage of the chaos by looting shops after attacking his opponents.
“They broke into shops, burned down the market and they also looted property. They moved to a Republic Square in the town, and they departed to their homes. In the evening, a group of Beni Amir retaliated, and they randomly broke into shops in the market and in neighborhoods and looted a lot of property,” Hassan told VOA.
According to Abdallah Obshar, one of the organizers of the opposition protest in Kassala town, a group of armed supporters of governor Ammar attacked peaceful demonstrators. They believed Ammar should be replaced because he is not qualified to lead the state.”
“If we look at the qualification criteria on his appointment process, there were more than 10 candidates, some of them are Ph.D. holders and professors from universities. We are wondering how Ammar made it to this level,” Obshar told South Sudan in Focus.
Sudan’s transitional government has called for calm in Kassala and ordered security organizations to restore peace in the area.
