CAIRO (Reuters) – An agreement has been reached for the creation of a Russian naval base in Sudan, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Yusef Sharif said in a televised press conference in Moscow on Wednesday.
“We are in complete agreement on this issue, and there are no obstacles. This is an easy question, there are no obstacles, we are in complete agreement,” Sharif said following talks in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
He did not provide any additional details on the plan, which has been discussed for years since a deal was signed under former President Omar al-Bashir. The army generals who overthrew him in 2019 said later the plan was under review, and a base never materialised.
Russia has cultivated ties with both sides in Sudan’s almost two-year-long civil war, and Russian officials have visited the army’s wartime capital of Port Sudan in recent months.
Last year, a top Sudanese general said that Russia had asked for a fuelling station on the Red Sea in exchange for weapons and ammunition.
Such a station would be beneficial to Russia, particularly after the fall of Syria’s Assad regime put in question key bases there.
The war in Sudan has drawn in multiple competing regional and global influences, in part due to its ample Red Sea coastline, as well as gold resources.
(Writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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