Sudanese president heads to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday: news agency

May 19, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for the second time in less than two months, according to a news report.

Saudi Arabia state news agency (SPA) which carried the report said that Bashir will arrive in Riyadh for talks with King Salman Bin Abdelaziz on bilateral relations along with regional and international issues of mutual concern.

Sudan state media made no mention of the visit.

The relations between two countries appear to have warmed up after years of tense relations. Hours after Bashir’s visit to Riyadh last March, it was announced that Sudan has joined the Saudi-led military operations against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Khartoum’s close ties with Tehran was the main cause of cool relations with Riyadh. Last year, Sudan closed Iranian cultural centers in the country which was seen as a gesture of goodwill towards Arab Gulf states.

Sudanese officials have expressed strong hope that Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states would generously reward Khartoum for shifting alliances away from Iran.

But a Gulf diplomat speaking to Reuters last month downplayed these hopes.

“There is no trust in the Gulf for Omer al-Bashir…The leaders in the Gulf think that Bashir can betray them at any time, so they won’t give him aid until he shows he is serious about joining them and leaving Iran,” the diplomat said.

In April, the Saudi ambassador in Sudan denied local media reports that his country provided any cash assistance to Khartoum.

(ST)