Protests shut Port Sudan-Khartoum highway

On Friday, thousands of people in Suakin near Port Sudan, capital of Red Sea state, closed a part of the Khartoum-Port Sudan highway as part of a sit-in that continues for the second day to call for the demands of the revolution and in protest against the electricity, water, and bread crises.

Activist Abdallah Barki told Radio Dabanga that residents closed the port of Suakin for the second day in a row and closed the crossing point on the highway passing Suakin and demanded the presence of state governor to submit their demands.

He pointed out that a number of officers of the Sudan Armed Forces tried to break the sit-in by firing bullets in the air to no avail, stressing the continuation of the sit-in until the realisation of the legitimate demands.

Crises of electricity, water, health, and education

The governor of Red Sea state, Maj Gen Esameldin Abdelfarraj, pledged in a speech in front of the sit-in on the highway to achieve the service demands of electricity, water, health, and education.

He called on the protesters to open the road and promised to address them on Tuesday at the sit-in to stand on the achieved demands.

He said they are ready to hand over power to a civilian government immediately, explaining that their duty is to present the duty of protection to the government.

‘Out with the old regime’

He promised to dismiss the officials and judges appointed during the old regime in coordination with the competent bodies, as well as announcing the dissolution of the popular committees and freezing of their accounts and the confiscation of their seals, condemning corruption rampant among the popular committees.

He pledged to appoint additional temporary workers in the port of Suakin.

Suakin was formerly Sudan’s foremost port. Suakin used to be considered the height of medieval luxury on the Red Sea. The port was also prominent during the period when Sudan was part of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th Century, but the old city built of coral is now in ruins.