Joint force to maintain security in two Sudanese states

01 Janvier 2018

Khartoum, Sudan, January  1^st (Infosplusgabon) -  Following the 6-month state of emergency imposed by President Omar al-Bashir in the states of Kassala and North Kurdufan, the Sudanese Presidency has formed a joint force of the army and other security organs with wide powers of pursuit, inspection and apprehension in the troubled states.

The Presidency Minister of State, Al-Rashid Haroun, who lodged the emergency Republican Decree with the National Assembly on Sunday, said that the President of the Republic is granted by the Constitution the power to declare the state of emergency whenever a threat to the security and safety of the country is imminent.

The declaration of the state of emergency is to enable the government take decisive measures to curb the proliferation of weapons, human trafficking, narcotics and smuggling of strategic commodities which all constitute a threat to the security and safety of the country and the people, Haroun said.

On Saturday a police force in Kasala State in east Sudan managed to free 95 hostages held by a gang of human traffickers in a forest.

The Sudan News Agency (SUNA), reporting from Kasala, quoted the commander of the force, Brig. Abdulla Ahmed al-Sayq, as saying that policemen were deployed around the area to prevent the culprits from escaping.

Following the exchange of gun shots among the police and the abductors, that caused no casualties, the captives were released and the traffickers were captured. the police commander said.

The nationalities of the hostages and the human traffickers were not released but usually reports talk of Eritrean and Ethiopian nationals being smuggled through Sudan and Libya to Europe.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/HGD/GABON 2018

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