Egypt officials in talks with UAE, Saudi to support Sudan coup

Three high-ranking Egyptian military officials have visited the Sudanese prime minister to help resolve the current crisis in Sudan, sources have told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site.

Abdalla Hamdok was removed from power in the 25 October military coup and has been held under house arrest in the capital Khartoum.

At least 20 anti-coup protesters have been killed and other government officials detained.

After leading the coup, the head of the Sudanese army General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan appointed a new Sovereign Council and reappointed himself as its head.

The move sparked international condemnation with the United States, Britain and the European Union releasing a joint statement criticising Al-Burhan for undermining a power sharing agreement signed by pro-democracy leaders and Sudanese generals in 2019 after Omar Al-Bashir was toppled.

The US embassy in Khartoum has condemned the use of excessive force against protesters.

Egyptian officials have been in talks with high-ranking officials from the UAE and Saudi Arabia to try and prevent the tide of opinion turning against Al-Burhan.

READ: Protesters face tear gas and bullets to oppose Sudan coup

The three countries have told the US that if the general is overthrown, Sudan will become unstable.

The Egyptian delegation offered that Hamdok return as the head of government, but he has said he will not enter discussions until everyone who has been arrested has been released and that the people involved in the coup are brought to trial.

Saudi has said it is concerned about what will happen to Sudanese forces taking part in the military offensive in Yemen.

At the beginning of this month the Wall Street Journal revealed that Al-Burhan had a secret meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi the day before he suspended Khartoum’s government.

Egypt’s intelligence director Abbas Kamel also visited Sudan and told Al-Burhan that Hamdok must leave because he was seen as too close to Ethiopia, who Egypt is at loggerheads with over the Renaissance Dam.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia financially supported the 2013 military take-over of power in Egypt in 2013 which ousted the late Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters chanted against military rule in Sudan, outside the Egypt embassy in London. They condemned Al-Sisi for backing the coup.