SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: African Arguments - Cash and contradictions: On the limits of Middle Eastern influence in Sudan
Alex de Waal highlights various factors that are not going the way of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, despite their heavy involvement in Sudan.
The Gulf nations were said to be taken aback by the resilience of Sudanese protesters after the June 3 massacre.
De Waal also highlights splits between the Arab troika of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. The UAE’s abrupt withdrawal from Yemen, uncoordinated with Saudi Arabia, suggests that its foreign policy is “opportunistic,” whereas Egypt shares with the Sudanese army a distrust of Saudi-Emirati backed Himedti and his RSF. In addition, the omission of the Arab troika’s enemy – Qatar – from Sudan’s peace process “reveals the lack of common strategy.”
De Waal also foresees Saudi and UAE’s economic advisers pressuring their rulers to stop investing into Sudan’s central bank, given that Himedti’s use of it as an instrument of political finance continues to worsen Sudan’s economic crisis.