KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Thousands of southern Sudanese,
wielding knives and bars, looted shops and clashed with police
in the streets of Khartoum on Monday after learning of the
death of ex-rebel leader John Garang, witnesses said.
"People have been running all over the streets. The
policemen are taking people from the streets. There is fire and
smoke," a Reuters TV witness said.
"They are beating anybody they see who looks like they are
Arab," Swayd Abdullah, a student, told Reuters.
Shops closed and there was a heightened security presence
in the streets, witnesses said.
The southern Sudanese, who recently gave Garang a
tumultuous welcome when he traveled north to take up his post
as vice-president in the new power-sharing government, also
smashed cars and shops in several hours of rioting, the
witnesses said.
Some gunfire could be heard, although it was not clear if
that was in mourning for Garang or from fighting.
There were also reports of violence in the south, where
Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) fought a
21-year war against the mainly Islamic government in Khartoum
until January's peace accord.
Anglican priest Reverend Paul Yugusuk said he had heard
reports of rioting in Juba, one of the main population centers
in the south. "There are reports that people are on the streets
smashing shop-fronts," he told reporters in Uganda, citing
telephone calls with people in the area.
An aid worker with Catholic Relief Services in Yei, in
southern Sudan, said there was shooting there, but only out of
respect for Garang. "People are shooting in the air as a sign
of mourning. There are gunshots everywhere," he told Reuters in
Nairobi by phone from Yei.
(Reporting by Reuters TV in Khartoum; Wangui Kanina in
Nairobi; Daniel Wallis in Kampala)
Source: REUTERS
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