Sudan Bleeds in Yemen

YemenExtra

Y.A

For the first time since the beginning of the Saudi -led coalition on on Yemen in March 2015, Sudan announced its losses resulting from its parttaking with Saudi Arabia and the UAE in their battles in the Yemeni swamp, which caused shock inside the Sudanese community, especially those opposition to take part in the war and raised questions about the timing of the declaration, especially after a long silence and reserved by the political and military leaders in Khartoum.

Loss recognition

In a dialogue with the Sudanese newspaper Al-Jarida, the leader of the Sudanese army’s rapid backing forces, Lieutenant General Mohammad Hamdan Hamidati, acknowledged the size of the losses of Sudanese forces taking part in Saudi-led coalition in Yemen since 25 March 2015. He stated that 412 Sudanese forces, Including 14 officers, were killed, During the fighting in Yemen, Humaidati did not specify the number of wounded, but they are expected to be more than the number of dead. He added that the Sudanese army troops participated actively and were able to free areas in Yemen, with Yemeni, Saudi, UAE and Bahraini forces in 40 combat fronts.

Anger in the opposition

The Sudanese declaration has raised the anger of many opponents within the political part of Sudan, especially the Sudanese army has been silent on the number of dead in Yemen, and has not declared since the beginning of participation in the war, but leaving a small number of Participants in the war , and the latest declaration came with a big shock in both of Khartoum and Sanaa, the number exceeded about the total number of scattered statements of the Yemeni joint forces after each battle, which led to rise in condemnation’s voices that charged President Omar al-Bashir of sacrificing with blood of his people and his army.

In the Yemeni swamp

Sudan fell in the swamp of Yemen for more than two and a half years as an ally of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while many of the Arab states have not wanted to take part in the war against Yemen, especially Egypt and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE tended to lure Khartoum with some political and economic gains for the paying ground troops in the war, which it agreed, in mid-October 2015 the first batch of Sudanese troops arrived to the port of Aden, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir did not want to declare the size of his real forces, and he said that Khartoum’s participation in the air operations of the Saudi -led coalition is “limited and symbolic and only transport aircraft “, while he expressed about his readiness to send ground troops, and said that it would not exceed about a brigade, and will be symbolic.

Despite attempts by the Sudanese army and President al-Bashir to keep silent on the size of the troops in Yemen, the separate statements of some Sudanese officials pointed to the approximate number of troops that participating in the Saudi coalition.

Earlier, Information Minister ,Ahmed Bilal Othman ,declared that his country had put 6,000 soldiers, which was later attached to 2,000 soldiers, and the total number of Sudanese troops to 8,000 soldiers and officers, to produce unofficial reports and affirm that the Sudanese forces, which arrived in Yemen since the beginning of the war about 8220, killing at least 177.

Advertising timing

The timing of the declaration by the Sudanese leadership about the size of the casualties in Yemen raised many questions in the political side. Khartoum spent two and a half years attempting to hide the size of the losses.

Observers believe that the war on Yemen is now a nightmare for Sudan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but it is continuing by US orders is not debatable, and it seems that the Sudanese leadership chose to play with some pressure papers after it realized well that it has put its people and army in a quagmire known as “The moving sand”, which is getting out from them is impossible, and some linked this declaration to the beginning of the Sudanese preface to withdraw from the Yemeni quagmire.

However  some linked that the recent Sudanese declaration to an attempt to blackmail Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and America, where Khartoum realized the fact that it had not benefited from its participation in the Saudi -led coalition and was not appreciated for providing more lives in response to calls not respected by the international community. Khartoum has paid a heavy price for Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Washington, and only rewarded the recent decision by US President Donald Trump to remove Sudan from the US embargo, but the issue of lifting US sanctions about Sudan, Bashir’s main demand, its fate is still uncertain.

Sudan’s declaration of the size of its losses in Yemen may be a pressure card to Khartoum in the face of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to put pressure on the United States to lift the sanctions about Sudan, especially as the US administration is supposed to decide on this issue on October 12, and the United States has put the decision to lift the sanctions about Sudan permanently until October, after the expiration of the six-month period Which was granted by the administration President Barack Obama, to Khartoum to treat the worry of Washington after lifting of sanctions temporarily in 2017.

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