Only 657 Sudanese troops are in Yemen: military spokesperson

January 14, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has reduced its troops deployed in Yemen to over six hundreds soldiers, said Brig. Gen. Jamal Adam the spokesperson of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Tuesday.

“A minor group of 657 Sudanese military personnel remained in Yemen, Adam told the Turkish Anadolu Agency.

“Even the command of the Sudanese forces [in Yemen] returned to Khartoum,” he further said.

Last December, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok stated that there were some five thousand troops in Yemen.

“The number of troops had reached 15,000 soldiers and now it has drawn down to 5000,” he said after his return from Washington.

In October 2019, a member of the Sovereign Council and RSF General Commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemetti) told a joint meeting held with the ruling Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) that the army had withdrawn 10,000 troops from Yemen.

In 2015, Sudan’s ousted President Omer al-Bashir dispatched thousands of ground troops and several fighter jets fighting to Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition to fight Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The decision was criticized by the opposition but after the revolution, the army leadership maintained the troops and pledged to reduce it gradually in agreement with Saudi Arabia.

Also, the peace negotiations with the Houthi encouraged the Saudi-led coalition to drop down its operations in Yemen.

(ST)