400 Sudanese troops arrive in Yemen

November 9, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A new batch of Sudanese ground troops arrived in Yemen’s port city Aden Monday to participate in the Saudi-led campaign against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi militants, said sources.

Military sources in Aden told several Yemeni media outlets that a Sudanese force consisting of 400 officers and soldiers has arrived Monday morning at Al-Zait seaport in Al-Braiga.

The Sudanese army has not commented on the reports.

Since mid-October, around 850 Sudanese soldiers had arrived in Aden to join the coalition. Also, Sudanese officials including president Omer al-Bashir and the defence minister Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Ouf have expressed readiness to send 6,000 troops to Yemen.

The spokesperson for the Sudanese army Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami has earlier said the arrival of the vanguard ground troops in Aden comes within the framework of Sudan’s participation in the “Operation Restoring Hope” carried out by the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen.

He pointed out the deployment of the Sudanese troops in Yemen is the responsibility of the coalition command, saying the troops receive direct orders from the command and ready to carry out any tasks entrusted to it.

At a time when Saudi Arabia’s strongest allies including Egypt and Pakistan have declined requests by Riyadh to send ground troops to Yemen, Khartoum has recently shifted its alliances in response to growing economic pressures at home.

Late last year, Sudanese authorities ordered the closure of the Iranian Cultural Centre in the capital Khartoum and other states and asked the Iranian cultural attaché to leave the country in a move seen as a gesture of goodwill towards the Arab Gulf states.

(ST)