KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudanese protesters on Friday closed the Kassala Airport in eastern Sudan amid an escalation of demonstrations for the eighth day in a row, a tribal council said.

The move came during protests against a 2020 peace deal between the government and rebel groups, criticized by the Beja tribes in eastern Sudan as the agreement "marginalizes and does not represent" them.

"Kassala Airport has been closed, and the movement of travel buses and private cars have been suspended along the national road leading to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast," Ahmed Musa, a legal adviser to the High Council of Beja Nazirs, told Anadolu Agency.

On Thursday, the council announced the closure of the Port Sudan Airport.

For the seventh day, the tribal council is closing all ports on the Red Sea and the main road between Khartoum and Port Sudan over the peace deal.

The council complains about the marginalization of the eastern regions, demands the cancellation of the process and the establishment of a national conference for eastern issues, which aims at approving development projects in it.

Since Aug. 21, 2019, Sudan has been going through a 53-month transitional period that will end with elections in early 2024,

Power is currently shared by the army, the Forces of Freedom and Change alliance, and armed movements that signed a peace agreement with Khartoum on Oct. 3, 2020.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat