Sudan: Joining military ops. in Yemen ‘moral duty’

KHARTOUM, 29 May 2018 [Fik/News Sources]: Sudanese Ministry of Defense on Monday described its participation in ongoing Saudi-led military operations in Yemen as a “moral duty and commitment”.

According to the statement, Sudanese Defense Minister Ahmed Awad ibn Auf met Saudi Ambassador to Sudan Ali bin Hassan Jaafar in the capital Khartoum.

The meeting between the two sides came as a follow up of a visit paid last week by Saudi Assistant Minister of Defense Mohammed Al Ayash to Khartoum, the statement said.

The Saudi assistant minister of defense on Wednesday arrived in Khartoum on a one-day official visit during which he met Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir as well as Sudanese minister of defense.

On Apr. 7, Houthi spokesmen announced that several Sudanese soldiers had been killed in clashes with Houthi fighters near the city of Midi in Yemen’s northwestern Hajjah province.

The assertion, however, was never confirmed by either the Saudi-led coalition, Khartoum or the Yemeni government.

Yemen has been racked by violence since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies -- who accuse the Houthis of serving as an Iranian proxy force -- launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

The following year, UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait failed to end the conflict, in which more than 10,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures.