Leaders of Saudi Arabia & Qatar to participate in Bashir’s oath ceremony: report
May 27, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad will be present at the swearing-in ceremony of Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum next Tuesday, according to a news report.
Previously, the government in Juba announced that VP James Wani Igga will represent Kiir in the ceremony.
If the visit by King Salman materializes, it will be the first by a Saudi monarch to Sudan since 1976 when late King Khalid made a state visit lasting four days for talks with then president Ja’afar Nimeiri.
This will also be King Salman’s second international visit since he assumed the throne last January following the death of his half brother King Abdulla.
The Saudi King has snubbed planned appearances in Egypt for an economic conference in March and in Washington this month for a summit with US president Barack Obama.
Relations between Khartoum and Riyadh appear to have been normalized after the former distanced itself from Iran which was a cause of concern by the Arab Gulf states.
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.
Last week, the Sudanese leader made a brief and unannounced visit to Riyadh for talks with his Saudi counterpart.
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)