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Dozens of Sudanese protesters blocked the Port Sudan airport in the east of the country, days after protesters closed a crucial port to lament a peace deal between the rebels and the government, witnesses said.
In October last year, several rebel groups signed a landmark deal with the transitional military-civilian government that came to power shortly after the April 2019 ousting of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
The Hadendoa tribe, the largest subdivision of the Beja people in impoverished eastern Sudan, criticized the fragile peace agreement, saying it does not represent them.
A spokesperson for Badr Airlines, which operates a daily flight between Port Sudan and the capital Khartoum, said it had suspended operations due to the unrest.
Airport officials were not immediately available for comment.
Witnesses told AFP that protesters also blocked a bridge connecting Kassala to the rest of the country on Friday. They said public transport and motorists were not allowed to enter or leave the riverside town of Kassala.
Since Monday, protesters have blocked access to Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport and a vital trade hub for its crippled export-dependent economy.
Witnesses who spoke to AFP did not identify the protesters.
But Abdullah Abu Shar, a leader of the Beja people, confirmed the latest developments suggesting his tribe was behind the unrest.
“Today (Friday) there is a total closure of the Red Sea and Kassala states,” Abu Shar told AFP.
“We have banned traffic entering and leaving Port Sudan airport and blocked the Al-Batana bridge in Kassala,” he added.
Tensions have gripped Port Sudan since the government and rebel groups signed the deal in October 2020, with recurring anti-government protests.
The military has played a key role in securing peace deals with Sudanese rebel groups.
Last year, days after the agreement was signed, members of the Beja people also blocked the seaport for several days.
The latest protests come after the government foiled an attempted coup on Tuesday that it said involved military officials and civilians linked to Bashir.
Rift Valley Institute analyst Magdi el-Gizouli told AFP that developments in the east are the “real crisis in Sudan, not the foiled coup”.
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