Sudan riots claim 130 lives after death of ex-rebel leader

AT least 130 people have been killed and about 350 wounded in Sudan in three days of violence after the death of former rebel leader and first Vice-President John Garang, the Sudanese Red Crescent said yesterday.

Residents reported that the streets of the capital Khartoum were quieter overnight than on previous nights, when gangs of armed vigilantes roamed the streets in spite of a curfew imposed since Monday to curb the clashes. The Sudanese Red Crescent’s director of disaster management said the death toll in the capital by Wednesday evening was 111, with six killed in Malakal and 13 in the southern town of Juba, where Mr Garang will be buried tomorrow.

“It was very quiet last night compared to the previous two nights,” Hadi Ali al-Obeid said.