Sudanese protesters shut down Southern Port in protest against peace deal
Sudanese protesters have shut down Southern Port of Sudan in protest against a recently-signed peace deal with rebel groups.
The Sudanese transitional government on October 3, 2020, signed a power-sharing deal with the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), an alliance of rebel groups, during a ceremony held in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
Abboud el-Sherbiny, the head of the Maritime Ports Authority, said, protesters shut down three gates leading to the port in protest of the deal,
The deal “does not represent the people of eastern Sudan and we are against dependence on the foreign agenda,” he said, without explaining.
El-Sherbiny vowed to continue protests “until our demands are fulfilled by scrapping the deal.”
In a statement, the Syndicate Corporation of the Seaports Labors workers union released a statement announcing a one-day strike to express their rejection of the deal.
The deal followed a year of talks and came a few months after an initial agreement was reached on August 31, 2020
It addressed matters related to the sharing of wealth and power, political and national issues, security arrangements, land ownership, and related disputes.
Other issues include justice, equality, reconciliation, and compensation in the Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and Nuba Mountain regions.
