Sudan’s oil minister said that protestors blocked two crucial oil pipelines in Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport, over a peace deal with rebel groups.
“Entrances and exits at the port’s exports terminal have been completely shuttered” since early Saturday, oil minister Gadein Ali Obeid told AFP, warning of “an extremely grave situation.”
Sudan’s transitional government, which came into power in 2019 after ousting long-time leader Omar Al-Bashir, signed a peace accord with several rebel groups.
However, many tribespeoples in Sudan’s impoverished east, where Port Sudan is located, criticized the fragile peace treaty, stating that it does not represent them.
Over the past week, protests over the deal have been growing in east Sudan.
On September 17, protestors blocked access to the docks at Port Sudan, telling AFP at the time that they had also blocked “the main container and oil export terminals.”
The tensions between the Sudanese government and protestors come as the country is grappling with deep economic woes inherited from the Bashir regime.
The protests also come a week after the administration of PM Abdalla Hamdok said it had thwarted a failed coup attempt.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.