Sudan assessing role in Saudi-led war on Yemen

Sudan’s Minister of State for Defense Affairs Ali Salem has announced that his country is making a re-evaluation of its contribution to a deadly campaign led by Saudi Arabia against Yemen.

Salem said Wednesday that a decision on whether Sudan would continue to participate in the Yemen war or downgrade its presence in the military conflict would come after a thorough assessment of the case in the defense ministry.

“We are conducting studies and assessments these days about the participation of Sudanese forces in Yemen,” said Salem, adding, “...and then we will take a decision that will benefit the country and its stability.”

The minister acknowledged that there have been negative consequences for Sudan to contribute to Saudi Arabia’s more than three years of military campaign against the kingdom’s neighbor to the South.

“This (assessment) involves various sides, the negatives and positives of the participation,” said Salem in first official acknowledgement of the repercussions of Sudan’s military presence in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation.

The announcement came after a group of lawmakers condemned as “unconstitutional” the Sudanese military’s participation in war, urging President Omar al-Bashir to withdraw Sudan’s troops from the war-torn country.

“Dispatching Sudanese army soldiers and members of the Rapid Support Forces is an unconstitutional measure, and carried out without having been remitted to the parliament,” the lawmakers said in a statement on Sunday, while insisting that Sudan should not interfere in the affairs of other countries.

More than 14,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Saudi-led airstrikes and other attacks since the war started in March 2015. The campaign lacks any international mandate and rights groups and governments around the world continue to criticize those involved in the war like Sudan.

Domestic voices in the North African country have long urged a withdrawal from the Saudi-led coalition and those calls gained momentum after three senior Sudanese officers and scores of soldiers were killed during a battle in northern Yemen on April 10.

Sudan’s Akhbar el-Youm newspaper has quoted informed sources as saying that there is a strong trend among the leaders of the state to withdraw Sudanese forces from Yemen amid mounted pressure.

The report has also revealed that the Sudanese troops fighting in Yemen have not received their salaries from Riyadh.

However, a full withdrawal is unlikely to happen as president Bashir, who has cultivated close ties to Riyadh in the hope Saudis could help shore up economic situation in Sudan, has on several occasions stressed his intention to continue participating in the Yemen war.

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