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July 20, 2024 (Juba) – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has expressed appreciation for the direct talks between the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed, and General Abdullah Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council.
This is the first direct meeting between the leaders of the two countries since the outbreak of the Sudanese war.
“When I met with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, I asked him to speak to the brothers in Sudan and he readily accepted. I thought they had already spoken. Now I hear that this is the first time they have spoken,” Kiir said after learning of the recent phone call between the two leaders.
A source in the presidential palace told Sudan Tribune that the talks were chaired by the prime minister of Ethiopia, an ally of the UAE.
Kiir called the UAE a key player in the peace process and said direct dialogue was essential for the relationship between the two countries as they seek to end the war.
When people talk, they can find solutions to their concerns,” he commented.
The UAE has friendly relations with South Sudan and is one of the Gulf countries where Kiir and other senior South Sudanese government officials often visit for medical treatment, examinations and treatment.
South Sudan has also established a diplomatic presence with an embassy staffed by an ambassador and diplomatic personnel.
On July 9, 2024, His Highness bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent a message of congratulations to Kiir on South Sudan’s Independence Day. Other senior officials, including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, also sent similar messages of congratulations to the South Sudanese leader.
Trade between the UAE and South Sudan has been growing. In 2022, the UAE exported $832,000 to South Sudan. The main products exported by the UAE to South Sudan are knitted T-shirts ($29.1 million), knitted men’s clothing ($23.8 million), and knitted baby clothing ($20.3 million).
It is reported that the UAE’s exports to South Sudan have grown at an annualized rate of 216% over the past five years, from US$2.66 million in 2017 to US$832,000 in 2022.
President Kiir made the comments on Saturday after media news reports circulated widely on social media and major Sudanese media websites, reporting that Burhan spoke with bin Zayed, who called for an end to Sudan’s war through “peaceful dialogue.”
Most Sudanese officials and military leaders have been accusing the UAE of being the main backer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group battling the Sudanese Army (SAF) for control of the country. The Gulf monarchy has been hiring RSF soldiers as mercenaries in Yemen since 2016.
The motivations for choosing sides are unclear. Abu Dhabi initially remained neutral in the Sudanese civil war, which began in mid-April 2023. Later, several Sudanese leaders began to accuse the UAE of providing various forms of support to the RSF, including hosting its leadership and propaganda teams, arranging regional tours for RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, evacuating injured RSF soldiers, and allegedly sending weapons to Darfur through Chad.
The UAE has refused to provide military assistance to the RSF, which was already well-equipped before the civil war broke out and has captured a large amount of equipment from the Sudanese military over the past year.
Still, Sudan’s military regime blames its battlefield defeats on the small but wealthy Arab country, claiming it is not fighting the RSF alone but an international conspiracy.
(English stone)
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