Multiple international carriers have suspended flights to Khartoum following a brutal crackdown on protestors by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) this week. The TMC has ruled the country since the toppling of strongman Omar al Bashir but has been unwilling to immediately hand over power to civilian authorities.
Given the current impasse and a general strike called by opposition parties, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the TMC and head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), sent in troops to break up civilian roadblocks in front of the Ministry of Defence in Khartoum on Monday, June 3, killing at least 38 people and wounding hundreds. The opposition claims the RSF of being a cover for the Janjaweed militias which terrorised Darfur in 2003.
Since Monday's events, Turkish Airlines, Gulf Air, EgyptAir, Etihad Airways, Emirates, flydubai, Saudia, Air Arabia, Kenya Airways and others have all suspended flights to the Sudanese capital pending an improvement in the security situation.
Local Sudanese media reports said Khartoum Airport was closed to all traffic on Tuesday, June 4, despite the head of the TMC's security council, Jamal Omar, claiming the airfield to be operating as usual.
