Sudan under pressure to back Qatar in Gulf dispute

Sudan’s government has come under pressure from the country’s parliamentarians to show support for Qatar in its dispute with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states in the region, Sudan Tribune reported.

In a debate on the Gulf crisis yesterday, the National Assembly called on the government to stand-by Qatar in return for the tiny Gulf state’s political and economic assistance to Sudan over the years.

“I hope we do not slip into a situation that makes us regret it at least morally or put the country in an embarrassing position because the State of Qatar supported us in all respects,” President of the Party of Liberation and National Justice, former head of the regional authority in Darfur Tijani Al-Sissi, said.

Read: Gulf rift not in ‘Arab interest’ says former Sudan president

He also called on the government to send envoys to Doha, Riyadh and Manama in order to contain the situation.

Other parliamentarians such as MP Salah Gosh, the former head of the Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), attributed the dispute to Qatar’s links with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood:

Sudan does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation, but a resistance movement and the Muslim Brotherhood is not a terrorist group either.

The call to support Qatar has put the government in a difficult position given its huge diplomatic, military and economic ties with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. In response to the parliament’s plea, Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, said: “We will not stand neutral and we will not take sides but we are at the heart of the issue.”

Ghandour attempted to reassure members of parliament that his government was actively working to ease the tensions and restore relations between the Gulf countries.