Port Sudan terminal shut in peace deal protest

Workers at southern port's main sea terminal for containers and at Suakin port to the south strike over government's peace deal with rebels.

Protesters have blocked Port Sudan's container terminal and a road between the eastern city and the capital Khartoum to protest against a peace deal signed by the government and groups from across the country, a union official and residents said.

Workers at the southern port, Sudan's main sea terminal for containers, and at Suakin port to the south, were on strike over the peace deal, said Aboud el-Sherbiny, head of the Port Sudan Workers Union.

"We demand the cancellation of the 'eastern track' and the agreement that was signed yesterday in Juba because this track expresses an external agenda," he said.

"We will take escalatory steps if this demand is not met."

The deal "does not represent the people of eastern Sudan and we are against dependence on the foreign agenda," he said.

El Sherbiny vowed to continue protests "until our demands are fulfilled by scrapping the deal."

Peace deal 

On Saturday, the Sudanese transitional government 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.

Saturday's deal followed a year of talks and came a few months after an initial agreement was reached on August 31. 

It addresses 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.

Two major rebel groups – the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-North (SPLM/A-N) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) – are not part of the peace deal.