KHARTOUM: Dozens of Sudanese demonstrators blocked Port Sudan airport in the country’s east, days after protesters closed a crucial port to deplore a peace deal between rebels and the government, witnesses said.
In October last year, several rebel groups signed a landmark accord with the transitional military-civilian government which came to power shortly after the April 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar Bashir.
The Hadendoa tribe, the largest subdivision of the Beja people in Sudan’s impoverished east, have criticized the fragile peace deal saying it does not represent them.
A spokesman for Badr Airlines, which has a daily flight between Port Sudan and the capital Khartoum, said it has suspended operations due to the unrest.
Witnesses told AFP that demonstrators also blocked a bridge linking Kassala with the rest of the country on Friday.
They said public transport and motorists were barred from entering of leaving the riverfront city of Kassala.
Since Monday, demonstrators have impeded access to Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport and a vital trade hub for its crippled economy dependent on exports.
Abdullah Abu Shar, a leader of the Beja people, confirmed the latest developments suggesting his tribe was behind the unrest.
Protesters block Port Sudan airport
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Protesters block Port Sudan airport
Iran war chokes aid corridors, obstructing global relief efforts
- “People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Bauer
- Tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the IOM said
GENEVA: Key humanitarian air, sea and land routes are being constricted by disruption from the war in the Middle East, delaying life-saving shipments to some of the world’s worst crises, 10 aid officials have told Reuters.
The US–Israeli war on Iran entered its seventh day on Friday, convulsing global markets and disrupting supply chains with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Aid to Gaza and Sudan is grinding to a halt and costs are soaring for help to the hundreds of millions suffering hunger crises around the world.
“People in dire need of assistance will have to wait longer for food,” said Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security at the World Food Programme.
Already, tents, tarpaulins and lamps destined for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank have become stuck in the supply chain, the International Organization for Migration said.
DUBAI AID HUB HOBBLED BY AIR AND SEA RESTRICTIONS
Aid groups say higher operational costs are straining budgets already facing massive donor cuts. The IOM said shipping firms were demanding emergency surcharges of approximately $3,000 per container.
Humanitarian groups stocking goods for rapid regional deployment at warehouses in Dubai’s Humanitarian Hub face challenges moving supplies onto transit routes.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies cannot move trauma kits to help the Iranian Red Crescent with search and rescue from its Dubai hub, where they sit in a estimated 1 million Swiss franc ($1.28 million) pre-positioned emergency stockpile, said Cecile Terraz, a director at the IFRC.
The group cannot move stock through Jebel Ali port — the region’s largest container terminal, which was set on fire by the debris of an intercepted missile — from where cargo normally moves onto planes or into the Strait of Hormuz.
The World Health Organization’s Dubai hub operations are also frozen, regional director Hanan Balkhy said, obstructing 50 emergency requests from 25 countries and hampering operations such as polio vaccination.
Ripple effects farther afield are also likely.
Famine-struck Sudan is particularly exposed due to additional restrictions since February 28 on the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, the UNHCR said.
“We are particularly concerned about Africa,” said a spokeswoman, adding that some cargoes were being sent around the Cape of Good Hope. The route takes up to three weeks longer.
Costs for fuel, transportation and insurance are also rising, and Terraz said the IFRC may have to cut deliveries to the Iranian Red Crescent.
Emma Maspero, senior manager in Copenhagen of the supply division of the UN children’s body UNICEF, said she hoped flights carrying perishable humanitarian goods such as vaccines could be prioritized amid the airspace restrictions.
