Al-Thawra Net
Sudanese foreign minister-designate Omar Qamaruddin has admitted his country’s involvement in the war in Yemen, stressing the current Sudanese government is trying to get out of this war.
“The involvement of the army in the War of Yemen took place in the previous era under the leadership of dictator Omar al-Bashir, who implicated Sudan in this war,” he said in an interview with France 24 television, according to Russia’s Sputnik news agency.
“Going to war is not like getting out of it. We’ve entered with the involvement of Al-Bashir, but now we’re trying to get out of it, and many of our troops have been withdrawn. There’s only very few of them left,” he added.
The transitional government of Sudan had earlier announced its intention to reduce the military presence in Yemen from 5,000 to a group of about 650.
Sudan has reportedly had about 15,000 troops deployed in Yemen as part of the Saudi-UAE aggression coalition against Yemen at certain points in the past five years of the war.
The Sudanese minister’s remarks came days after a “Middle East Eye report said that hundreds of new Sudanese soldiers had arrived in Saudi Arabia last week and moved to Yemen.
The website said in a report published on Friday that the order indicates that Khartoum is increasing its participation in the conflict in in Yemen.
The Middle East Eye website quoted what Saudi sources called the fact that 1,018 officers and soldiers of the Sudanese army entered the kingdom by boat on September 22, bypassing the official travel procedures in the city of Jizan.
The site quoted a source, saying that two Sudanese aircraft carrying military personnel also travelled from Khartoum to Najran airport the day before 1,000 officers and soldiers arrived in the kingdom.
The two planes brought Sudanese officers and soldiers to participate in the coalition’s military operation on Yemen, the source said.
During Omar al-Bashir’s rule, Sudan was actively involved in the Saudi-UAE military aggression against Yemen.
The army overthrew Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 during a months-long popular uprising. Sudan has since then been administered by a group of military and civilian rulers.
