Sudan army deputy meets Saudi prince
Prince Mohammad reviews cooperation with General Dagalo
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman met the deputy head of Sudan’s transitional military council who is visiting Saudi Arabia, Saudi Press Agency said early yesterday.
The meeting between Prince Mohammad and General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, who goes by the nickname Hemedti, was held in the city of Jeddah, where they discussed cooperation between the two countries, SPA added.
Earlier last week Saudi Arabia deposited $250 million (Dh918 million) into the Sudanese central bank, according to a statement from the Kingdom’s Ministry of Finance.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE pledged to send $3 billion worth of aid to Sudan, after mass protests led to the ouster of president Omar Al Bashir last month.
At 44, Dagalo is the youngest member of the council.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE pledged to send $3 billion worth of aid to Sudan, after mass protests led to the ouster of president Omar Al Bashir last month
Orders to fire disobeyed
He says he refused orders from Al Bashir to fire on the protesters, and he praised them as recently as last weekend, saying, “We want the democracy they are talking about.”
Many see him as an ally against the Islamic movement that orchestrated Al Bashir’s 1989 coup and underpinned his regime.
Hemedti has supplied ground forces to the Saudiled coalition fighting Iranaligned rebels in Yemen and is close to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which also hope to sideline the Islamists.
Weeks after the army ousted Al Bashir, Sudan is gripped by uncertainty as talks between the military rulers and protesters on the transition to civilian rule remain deadlocked.
Protest leaders have said that preparations are under way for a “general strike and civil disobedience” to pressure the generals to cede power.
Thousands of protesters have remained camped around-the-clock outside the army headquarters in Khartoum clamouring for civilian rule since Al Bashir’s ouster on April 11.
The latest round broke up early Tuesday but it is unclear when the talks will resume.
There are three forces at play: the ruling military council, the protest umbrella group Alliance for Freedom and Change and the demonstrators themselves.
According to prominent Sudanese journalist Khalid Al Tijani, the military council is determined to “have a role because it considers itself a key partner in change”.
The Alliance, he said, “is divided over the role the generals should play” in a future government.
The demonstrators are also divided into two camps, with one “leaning towards negotiations” with the generals on a future transition while the other is adamant that the military council must be ousted, said Al Tijani.