Sudanese officials reveal details of Sudanese president’s visit to Syria

The Sudanese presidential aide Faisal Hassan Ibrahim said that, “President Omar Al Bashir’s visit to Syria came as a continuation of his leadership of initiatives to reunite the Arab countries”.

Ibrahim added: “The visit also came to overcome the Syrian crisis after the state of weakness witnessed by the Arab arena in many forums”.

He continued: “International and regional interventions in Syria require work to end the conflict and strengthen the row and heal the wounds of Syria, and the unity of decision and the Arab countries unity”.

The Sudanese official, who is also deputy chairman of the ruling National Congress Party, said Syria is a “confrontation state”.

From his part, the Sudanese ambassador in Damascus, Khaled Ahmed Mohammed, also confirmed that Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir’s visit was a purely a Sudanese move, and not an initiative of any other country.

The Sudanese ambassador also answered a number of questions about the visit, whether it was initiated by countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.

The ambassador replied: “Sudan is a sovereign country.

It has a political leadership that knows what to do and doesn’t comply with foreign instructions from here and there”.

He added: “The Sudanese leadership takes the decision that it deems appropriate for its interests and the interest of the Arab world”.

The ambassador also confirmed that the Sudanese president’s visit to Syria is “purely Sudanese”.

Ambassador Ahmed pointed out that Al Bashir’s visit to Syria “is a decisive blow to any media talk about an Israeli-Sudanese rapprochement”.

He added: “Sudan is a state against Israel, and did not change its position one day from them”.

The Sudanese diplomat said that the travel of Bashir to Damascus by a Russian plane is “normal thing” saying, “there is nothing preventing the cooperation with a friendly country such as Russia in using its aircraft in President Bashir’s travel to Syria”.

The Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir returned Sunday to Khartoum, at the end of a short surprising visit to Damascus which wasn’t announced until after it ended, where he held talks with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

This is the first visit by an Arab president to Syria since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis eight years ago.