Sudan: Suspected looters held

2005-08-04 23:36

Rodrique Ngowi

Juba - Police on Thursday detained hundreds of people suspected of looting from the Arab minority during two days of deadly clashes in this Nile River port town following the death of southern leader John Garang.

The Sudanese Red Crescent reported that 130 people were killed in three cities - Khartoum, the capital, and Juba and Malakal in the south - and more than 400 injured in three days of rioting, which also destroyed vehicles and shops and homes.

Arab northerners continued to flee this southern town in fear of attacks by ethnic African southerners who blamed the government in the north for Garang's death in Saturday's helicopter crash southern Sudan - three weeks after he was sworn in as the country's first vice president.

Many people died

Clashes in Juba killed 13 people, according to the Sudanese Red Crescent. Far north in the capital, Khartoum, 111 were killed in violence perpetrated by residents from the south, north and west of the country.

On Thursday, the capital was calm and many shops opened for the first time since the news of Garang's death was reported on Monday.

"We assert that we are keen on proceeding forward until peace is achieved," President Omar al-Bashir said in a nationally televised speech on Wednesday.

Garang's body had been lying in a casket in New Town, one of his former bases in the south. On Friday, it will be taken to the southern towns of Rumbek and Bor for supporters to pay condolences before he is buried on Saturday in Juba.

Suspected looters detained

On Thursday in Juba, dozens of suspected looters were detained and at least two trucks ferried others to unknown destinations, witnesses said outside the dusty square, where they watched through barbed wire fence as officers sorted looted sacks of grain, flour, plastic buckets and other household items.

Security forces "took two truckloads of people - we don't know where they have been taken," Jane Martin, a 30-year-old mother of seven, said before a brief burst of gunfire erupted from an unknown location.

As shops smouldered nearby and children darted across shattered doors to grab goods inside, dozens of armed police officers kept watch outside locked up businesses owned by Arab traders who have fled.

Hundreds of former rebel fighters also arrived in Juba overnight to protect their leaders planning to attend Garang's funeral on Saturday.

The security measures were not enough for the 1 265 Arabs in Juba, who were targeted by southerners in the rioting. Dozens gathered at the airport to catch flights to Khartoum.

Abdallah Ali Taib, a 32-year-old businessman, spent four days at the airport waiting for the next available flight and feeding on biscuits and water.

"If the security here is good, I will come back soon," a visibly shaken Taib said after opening a plastic bag to display stacks of bank notes worth 15 million dinars ($60 000) that were partially burnt as looters set his two shops on fire.

- AP