Saudi Arabia distributes over 21 tons of food in Sudan
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) on Monday distributed over 21 tons of food baskets among 1,182 people in West Darfur State, Sudan.
Each food basket contains essential items for a family. The center continues its relief projects in other countries such as Jordan and Yemen.
In Yemen, where the Saudi Arabian-led coalition continues to fight Houthi rebels, the Humanitarian Aid Centre is carrying out training projects in different fields to help orphans and widows to earn their own living.
In June last year, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates managed to raise $1.3 billion of the $2.4 billion requested by the UN to distribute humanitarian aid in Yemen, a country devastated by the war that began in 2015.
Since it was founded in May 2015, KSrelief has implemented 1,329 projects in 53 countries, worth more than $4.42 billion. The countries that have benefited most from its work are Yemen ($3 billion), Palestine ($360 million), Syria ($296 million), and Somalia ($192 million).
The humanitarian, relief and development activities of KSrelief extend to all needy countries of the world, including Arab and Islamic countries.
KSrelief’s 1,367 projects and programs cover 54 different countries around the world on all its continents.
Saudi Arabia has long had close ties with Sudan, for example, in the context of the war in Yemen. Furthermore, the Saudi monarchy supported the previous regime, which was overthrown in 2019 by the military following constant citizen protests about the country's appalling living conditions and the regime's authoritarianism. Indeed, Saudi Arabia sent $2.2 billion to the ousted Omar al-Bashir in early 2019 before he was disgraced.
It is estimated that 14,000 Sudanese mercenaries took part in the war in Yemen until 2018. Although former ally Al-Bashir is no longer in charge of the country, Riyadh continues to enjoy the support of the military junta in the Yemeni conflict, which is one of the reasons why Saudi Arabia is interested in maintaining the status quo in the African country.
The Saudi monarchy is not interested in a revolution in Sudan that would put an end to the power of the military. Karim Bitar, research director of the Institute of Strategic and International Affairs (IRIS) in Paris, told Deutsche Welle (DW) that Riyadh "fears that any rebellion or any national protest movement could trigger a landslide and spread to other regions".
Another of the Saudis' fears is the influence of Turkey and Qatar, which are choosing to support Islamist groups to the detriment of the military junta. These groups, incidentally, are also a danger to the majority feeling of the popular protests calling for the construction of a democratic Sudan.
For its part, the Sudanese transitional military junta led by Abdelfatah al-Burhan is welcoming Saudi support. In early December al-Burhan stated that his country aspires to improve bilateral relations following the first visit made by the Saudi foreign minister after the fall of Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The leader of the military junta also showed his gratitude for the Saudi support provided during the pandemic and the floods that seriously affected the country in September.
The latest visit by Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Faisan bin Farshan al-Saud, came after Sudan became the fourth Arab country to announce the establishment of relations with Israel, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last year, and after Jordan in 1994.
This move prompted the United States to remove Sudan from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, on which it had been included since 1993 owing to its support for figures such as Osaba bin Laden, the former leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organisation.