Sudan, UK sign agreement over British army participation in regional drills

November 14, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan and Britain signed a military Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the armies of the two countries on Tuesday to provide the administrative and logistic services necessary to facilitate the East African Standby Force (EASF) Military Field Training Exercise (FTX) .

Eastern Africa Standby Force which is one of the five sub-regional brigades of the African Standby Force (ASF) is due to conduct the upcoming field training exercise in Eastern Sudan this month with the participation of British troops.

The MoU was signed by the Sudanese army Chief of Staff, Major General Emad Eddin Mustafa Adawi, and the British ambassador to Sudan Michael Aron.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Aron pointed to the importance of the participation of British troops in the military drills, saying “The memo is the beginning of a new page to be added to the long history between the two countries and the two armies”.

For his part, the Spokesperson for the Sudanese Armed Forces Brigadier Ahmed Khalifa Al-Shami, said the agreement represents the beginning of qualitative cooperation in the framework of the development of relations between Sudan and the United Kingdom.

Earlier this month, Sudan announced the completion of preparations for hosting the manoeuvres of the East African peace forces.

The objective of the regional force is to undertake the functions of maintaining peace and security at the appropriate time in accordance with the authorization of the African Union Peace and Security Council.

(ST)