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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Saudi Arabia, UAE pledge aid for crisis-hit Sudan

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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it and the UAE would send urgent aid to support agriculture in crisis-hit Sudan.


Sudan has been in political limbo and experienced bouts of violencesince April when the army toppled the country’s long-time autocrat Omar al Bashir.


The country’s interim military rulers and the opposition have yet to sign a power-sharing deal they agreed last week.


The state Saudi news agency SPA, citing an unnamed official, reported Sunday that a vessel carrying more than 50,000 tonnes of fertilisers and other farming needs will set sail soon from the kingdom to Sudan to save the troubled agricultural season in the country.


“This support comes at direct instructions from leaders of both countries and a continuation of brotherly stances to support the brotherly Sudanese people in their current crisis and ease the burden on the Sudanese farmers,” the official said, according to SPA.


Sudan is a partner to a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE fighting in Yemen against fighters.


Days after Bashir’s ouster, Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced jointly offering $3 billion in aid to Sudan.


That assistance included $500 million to be deposited at Sudan’s central bank in order to prop up the country’s financial position and ease pressure on the local currency.


The aid pledges are seen as aimed at supporting Sudan’s military rulers in easing the country’s economic woes that had triggered massprotests against Bashir’s 30-year rule in December.


Meanwhile, members of a feared Sudanese paramilitary force shot dead a civilian on Sunday in a town southeast of the capital as angry residents protested against the paramilitaries, witnesses and doctors said.


The incident occurred in El Souk in the state of Sinnar when residents of the town rallied demanding that members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leave the town, witnesses said.


“Residents of the town had gathered outside the office of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to complain about the RSF,” a witness said.


“RSF members deployed and initially started shooting in the air but later they opened fire at residents, killing a man and wounding several other people,” said the witness, who declined to be named for security reasons.


A committee of doctors linked to the country’s umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, confirmed the incident.


The resident “was killed by gunshot in his head fired by Rapid Support Forces militia,” it said in a statement, adding that people were wounded.


Witnesses said El Souk residents had gone to the NISS office to complain after the RSF raided a youth club on Saturday during a rally held to mourn the deaths of demonstrators killed in a Khartoum sit-in on June 3.


“During that rally the RSF raided a youth club and beat the youths there,” one witness said.


On Saturday, protesters held rallies in several cities and towns across the country, including in Khartoum, to mourn those killed in a raid on a protest camp on June 3 in the capital.


Protesters and rights groups allege that the raid on the sit-in outside the army headquarters in central Khartoum was carried out by members of the RSF.


RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is the deputy chief of Sudan’s ruling military council that seized power after the army’s ouster of longtime ruler Bashir in April following nationwide protests against his rule.


Meanwhile, tens of thousands demonstrated in cities across Sudan on Saturday, witnesses said, to mark 40 days since security forces killed dozens when they stormed a protest camp in the capital Khartoum.


The demonstrations were the first since the ruling military council and civilian opposition agreed in principle to a power-sharing arrangement ahead of elections. The deal has yet to be finalised and signed.


A meeting between the two sides planned for Saturday was postponed to Sunday, a leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition said.


— Agencies


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