Students protest against military service

Violent clashes rocked Sudan for the third time in less than 10 days on Sunday when students rioted in Kosti, a strategic railhead 280 km south of Khartoum, and capital of White Nile State. Students protesting against military service burned government buildings and banks during clashes with security forces, the Associated Press (AP) reported. With at least two dead and several injured, the council of ministers called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Sunday to apply all necessary measures to guarantee the safety of citizens and property. Diplomatic sources told IRIN that the riots in three areas in Sudan over the last week were symptomatic of general political unrest.

State Governor Badawi al-Khayr Idris told Sudanese state-run television that the riots began when students demonstrating against mandatory military service were joined by scores of unemployed. They began burning government cars, the local government-run radio station, the state office building, banks and police stations, according to an AP report on Sunday.
Idris accused “instigative sides” of provoking the violence - a veiled
reference to followers of the Popular National Congress (PNC) party, an
opposition group headed by Islamic ideologue Hasan al-Turabi, the report said.

Sunday’s clash follows two other riots last week. One woman was killed and 16 people injured in the western city of Al-Fashir in a protest over delays in the start of classes, while in another protest, five people were injured in the eastern city of Port Sudan when hundreds of students rioted against an attempt to require them to pay damage deposits on textbooks.

In a report by Sudanese newspaper ‘Al-Ra’y al-Amm’ on 15 September, Hasan al-Turabi, secretary-general of the opposition PNC, predicted more unrest in the country.