A large numbers of citizens in Abu Karinka, Adila, Sharef, and El Mazrob in East Darfur, went to the streets on Sunday morning.
The demonstrators protested against the formation of the new East Darfur State government, and demanded the abolition of East Darfur State instead. The areas inhabited by the Ma’aliya should be incorporated in North Darfur, they said.
The head of the committee that organised the demonstration, Ahmed Adam Bilal, said that the protesters also shouted slogans such as “Down with the National Congress Party.”
“They went to the East Darfur State government offices in their areas, and changed all the locks, so that the offices cannot be opened again.”
On Saturday, the governor of East Darfur State had announced the formation of his cabinet in the state capital of Ed Daein. The cabinet will include ten ministers, four advisors, and two commissioners, according to Deputy Governor Ahmed Kibir.
Since the beginning of this year, tribal conflicts have frustrated the formation of a new government in East Darfur State, one activist said in a recent radio interview. He said that the repeated clashes between the Rizeigat and Ma’aliya have sparked an administrative crisis in East Darfur.
“The governor of East Darfur State has been unable to form a government so far, owing to his incompatibility to arrange for a lasting reconciliation between the two tribes.”
East Darfur was created in January 2012, in line with the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, from land that was previously part of South Darfur.
Reporting by Radio Dabanga
News photo: East Darfuris listening to a speech of the organisors of the protest in Adila (Radio Dabanga)