Sudan Closes Khartoum Airport Amid Protests

Sudan’s civil aviation authority has stopped all flights as of Tuesday to and from Khartoum Airport until Oct. 30 amid continued protests following a military takeover in the country. 

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Earlier, Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines suspended flights between Turkey and Sudan after the country's military dissolved the government and enacted a state of emergency.

According to the airline's press office, round trips from Istanbul to Khartoum on Monday and Tuesday had been canceled.

Turkish Airlines later said that round trips on Wednesday and Thursday have also been scrubbed.

The head of Sudan’s ruling council, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, declared a state of emergency Monday and dissolved the Transitional Sovereign Council and government.

The move came hours after the military arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and ministers in the civilian government.

Al-Burhan also announced the suspension of some provisions of the constitutional document outlining the political transition in Sudan.

According to the Sudanese Information Ministry, the military detained Hamdok early Monday after he refused to support what it described as a "coup."

After a failed military coup last month, deep tensions between the military and the civilian administration erupted amid recent rival protests in Khartoum.

Before the dissolution, Sudan was administered by the Sovereign Council of military and civilian authorities which was overseeing the transition period until elections slated for 2023 as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change coalition.