Sudan to sign naval base agreement with Russia

According to the Associated Press, the agreement will now be awaiting ratification

The authorities of Sudan have completed the review of an agreement with Russia about hosting a Russian naval base on the country’s territory, the Associated Press news agency has reported.

Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a visit to the country.

“They [the Russian delegation] cleared all our concerns. The deal has become OK from the military side,” the agency quoted an unnamed Sudanese official as saying.

According to the report, the agreement is yet to be ratified. However, ratification is to be carried out by a legislative body, which is yet to be formed.

In early December 2020, it was reported that Russia and Sudan had signed a deal on establishing a Russian naval logistics base in Sudan. The naval logistics base will be designed to conduct repairs, replenish supplies and for the crewmembers of Russian Navy ships to have a rest. Under the agreement, the naval facility’s personnel should not exceed 300 people. Not more than four Russian Navy ships may stay at the naval base at a time.

Sudanese Chief of the General Staff Muhammad Othman al-Hussein said in an interview with the Blue Nile TV channel in June 2021 that Sudan was “in the process of revising the agreement signed between the former government of Sudan and Russia on the Russian military project on the coast of the Red Sea in Sudan”.