Sudanese president holds talks with the Saudi King
July 14, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – he Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir on Tuesday has discussed with the Saudi King, Salman bin Abdel-Aziz Al Saud, prospects of cooperation between the two countries besides regional and international the developments.
According to the Saudi official news agency SPA the meeting was attended by Sudan’s minister of presidential affairs Salah Al-Din Wanasi, foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour and minister of state and director of the president’s office,Taha Osman al-Hussein.
The meeting was also attended by the Saudi crown prince Mohamed bin Naif bin Abdel-Aziz, deputy premier and minister of interior; deputy crown prince Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdel-Aziz, second deputy premier and minister of defence.
Also the Saudi minister of state and member of the cabinet Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban attended the meeting besides the minister of state and member of the cabinet Essam bin Saad bin Saeed, minister of culture and information Adel bin Zaid Al-Toraifi; and minister of foreign affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir.
After years of strained relations, the two countries recently improved their ties when Khartoum accepted to join a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign against rebels in Yemen at the expense of its relation with Iran.
The Sudanese leader also paid a visit to Saudi Arabia last May in which he met with King Salman and other senior officials.
He also held talks with Yemeni president Abd-Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who has resided in Riyadh shortly before the military campaign started in March.
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 April 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)