Sudan’s Al-Bashir: We will not allow our land to be exploited against the kingdom

Sudan backs Saudi Arabia on its views and fight against terrorism, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir said yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya‘s General Manager Turki Aldakhil, Al-Bashir said that the two countries relation has developed on the political, economic, investment and military levels.

Al-Bashir noted that he met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud when he was still the Crown Prince and discussed Yemen and how dangerous the situation was there.

“We in Sudan feel that the situation in Yemen poses a threat to us,” he said, adding that he informed high-ranking Saudi officials of this point of view.

Read: Sudanese president visits Saudi Arabia for talks, confirming military and economic links

The president pointed out that once the “Decisive Storm Operation” was declared, Sudan immediately joined forces through a number of military aircraft and Sudanese troops present on the ground in Aden. “We are also preparing troops to send them to the kingdom and to Yemen,” he added.

On Iran and its activity in the region, Al-Bashir said Saudi Arabia had information about carrying out certain activities against the kingdom from Sudan. “We’ve always confirmed that we will not allow our land to be exploited against the kingdom,” he said, adding that the Iranian activity in Sudan created some sort of sensitivity.

“In the end, we were convinced that this activity must be stopped,” Al-Bashir said.

The president accused the Americans of establishing a Shia state in Iraq after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime and thus helping Iran to expand.  “This gave Iran control over four Arab capitals – Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad and Sana’a,” he said.

Read: Iran defies US sanctions, tests more missiles

“Is this the end of Iran’s ambitions or does it have other aims? I think Tehran has other aims,” Al-Bashir added.

On the American sanctions against Sudan, Al-Bashir said the curbs included banks and stock companies, adding that at some point all European banks halted dealing with Sudan due to American pressure.

“There is a roadmap between us and the US and it includes five topics. The first one is terrorism. What the Americans confirmed is that work related to this topic has been 100 per cent complete but Sudan’s name is still on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism,” he said, adding that the decision to remove it from the list must be made by the American Congress.