After a series of attacks on businesses and homes owned by Sudanese people, the police chief in neighboring South Sudan announced a nighttime curfew to calm tensions.
Three people were killed and seven injured in violent clashes with security officials in the capital Juba and the northwestern city of Aweil, police said. Their nationalities have not been released.
According to officials, three houses of Sudanese citizens were set on fire in Aweil.
No one will be allowed on the streets between 18:00 and 06:00 local time [16:00 and 04:00 GMT] to “prevent any encroachment on public and private property”, General Insp Abraham Manyuat Peter said on Friday.
Another police source told the BBC that officers rescued 45 Sudanese traders in Juba who are now receiving protection at a police station.
South Sudan broke away from Sudan to form an independent state in 2011 after a protracted civil war, but recently an increasing number of Sudanese have been fleeing to South Sudan to escape the latest conflict.
Sudan has become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since the country’s warring generals first turned on each other in April 2023. Half the population – roughly 25 million people – are in urgent need of food and aid, the UN says.
Recent footage showing alleged Sudanese soldiers killing South Sudanese civilians has been shown in the town of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state in central Sudan for the past few days.
Human rights groups have confirmed that at least 13 – including children – were killed there because of their ethnicity.
Darker-skinned people say racism is endemic in Sudan, and the targeted attacks on those communities by lighter-skinned Arab fighters taking place today in places like Gezira and Darfur have a long history.
Slave raids were widely reported to have continued until the end of the civil war in 2005, which led to the secession of South Africa’s predominantly black South Sudan from Arabic-speaking Sudan six years later.
The events depicted in the viral videos have been condemned by South Sudanese people at home and abroad in the diaspora.
Outraged by what they saw in the clips and wanting to retaliate, hundreds of young men attacked Sudanese-owned businesses in Juba and other parts of South Sudan on Thursday.
Shots were heard during the night as security forces patrolled.
The BBC witnessed dozens of young men – mostly in their 20s – running as police chased them along Tambura Road, which is one of the busiest streets in the Juba suburb of Atlabar.
On Fridays, shops and businesses in Juba, including the largest market in the country, Konyo Konyo, stay closed. Restaurants and cafeterias are also locked as owners take precautions.
Bread prices jumped by as much as 17% in Juba on Friday in several local bakeries that were open.
Police continue their pursuit of young men who move from one neighborhood to another, targeting Sudanese residents. Dozens of police officers have been deployed to protect Sudanese and their businesses in the suburbs of Atalabar C and others, the BBC learns.
We saw a police vehicle gathering and taking away a group of young men.
Witnesses in Wau, the country’s second-largest city, told the BBC by phone on Friday that hundreds of angry young people had attacked Souk Jaw, a popular market, which has many Sudanese-owned businesses.
They also tried to loot a number of shops, but the police fired volleys in the air to disperse them.
Incidentally, spontaneous protests reportedly broke out on Friday in the town of Tonjo in Warrap, the home state of President Salva Kiir.
The BBC was unable to independently confirm claims of attacks and looting taking place in areas outside Juba.
