Sudan is distancing itself from the United Arab Emirates economically. Several official sources suggest that the government is in the process of terminating several protocols of economic investment agreements signed between Khartoum and Abu Dhabi, due to the proven interference, according to Khartoum, of the United Arab Emirates in the affairs Sudanese interiors.
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According to Sudanese officials who raise the issue, in public or on condition of anonymity, it is Emirati support for the RSF (Rapid Support Forces), accused of committing crimes against Sudanese civilians, which is pushing the government to reduce its economic and commercial exchanges with Abu Dhabi.
For these officials, these are only protocols of understanding signed before the war, which are not binding on either party and which have not been applied. Most of these investments are expected to take place in the strategic Eastern Red Sea state. Sudan and which borders the fertile states of al Jazeera and Sennar.
Last Sunday, during a press conference in Port Sudan, Jibril Ibrahim, the Minister of Finance and Planning, notably announced the cancellation of the most important of these memorandums of understanding. “ We are not going to allow the UAE to invest a centimeter of the territory “, he said. This involves the construction of the port of Abu Amama on the Red Sea as well as a free trade economic zone and a tourist zone around this port located 230 km from Port Sudan and which was to be inaugurated in January 2022 A project which amounted to 6 billion dollars and which would be entrusted to a Sudanese-Emirati consortium bringing together the Abu Dhabi Ports Company and Invictus Investment, a company led by Sudanese businessman Oussama Daoud.
Other canceled agreements also include the construction of a road to transport agricultural products to the port of Abou Amama.
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“ The interference of external forces in the conflict in Sudan »
Furthermore, Yassin Ibrahim, the Sudanese Minister of Defense, for his part denounced the sending of weapons by Abu Dhabi which fuels one of the two belligerents in the conflict “ prolonging the war “.
Despite the UN embargo on Sudan, according to resolution 1591, weapons continue to flow to this country. Last April, Sudan’s representative to theUN filed a complaint against Abu Dhabi, accused of interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
Last June, the United Nations expert groups on Sudan denounced “ the interference of external forces in the conflict in Sudan “. Neighboring states and regional actors must refrain from providing weapons or other materials to the conflicting parties, they argued. The United Arab Emirates are thus contributing to fueling the internal conflict which is flaring up more and more and to prolonging the duration of the war, they indicated in their report.
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