SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: People's Dispatch - As violence subsides in eastern Sudan, activists allege vested interest behind conflict

5/9/2020: People's Dispatch - As violence subsides in eastern Sudan, activists allege vested interest behind conflict, by Pavan Kulkarni

 People’s Dispatch feature quotes Sudanese activists who allege that the campaign by Beja leader Sayed Tirik to prevent Beni Amer tribesman Saleh Ammar’s appointment as Kassala governor is an exploitation of tribal divisions to pursue the political interests of the ousted al-Bashir regime.

Kassala Resistance Committee member Ammar Salih says that Sayed’s father al-Amin “was a parliamentary member of the former ruling National Congress Party…had considerable influence in the National Intelligence and Security Service…and continues to remain a powerful figure in the security forces.”

 With al-Amin facing allegations of embezzling money from the 2006 Eastern Sudan Reconstruction and Development Fund, Salih claims that Ammar’s appointment is particularly concerning as he is a former journalist who investigated the embezzlement. 

 Thus, Ammar is said to hold “information against many people with corrupt vested interests in the region,” and those he can implicate “are the main drivers in this conflict.”