We are wary as Putin seeks African ports as he grows his fight for influence
The Trump administration has warned of “serious consequences” about Russia’s plans to open a naval base in war-torn Sudan. News of the development of the base caused an unusual warning from State DepartmentFox News Digital has been reported.
A State Department spokesman told Fox News Digital: “We are encouraging all countries, including Sudan, to avoid dealing with the Russian defense sector.”
The Kremlin appears to be eager to join the “Navy Club,” the African Horn of African powerhouse, with its approved plan for warships and nuclear-powered submarine bases in Port Sudan. This is not far from the Indian Ocean coast from Djibouti, where we and the Chinese bases are located. Port Sudan will become Russia’s only foreign naval base as the new Syrian government is likely to drive Russians out of Tartus’ base.
“Moscow sees Sudan as a logical place to expand Russia’s footprint into Africa because of its strategic location. Putin sees it as a key location for a geopolitical conflict between the US and China,” strategic military intelligence analyst Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital.
The photo, taken on February 28, 2021, presents the views of Grigorovich (494), a Russian naval frigate, anchored in Port Sudan. (Ibrahim Ishaq/AFP via Getty Images)
“Russia considers the US and China as its finest enemies, and Moscow could create a long-term movement conflict. Therefore, Putin wants intelligence and military capabilities to be stationed near US Djibouti bases and Chinese facilities,” she said.
“When you think about that Us and China Already (a) there is a naval presence from the Horn of Africa, Koffler added.
“Potential Russian naval logistics facilities in Sudan will support Russia’s power projections in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean,” John Hardy, deputy director of the Russian Programme for the Foundation for Democracy (FDD), told Fox News Digital. He added: “This issue is becoming more important to Moscow given the uncertainty about the future of the Tartus Naval Logistics Facilities.”
Russian naval bases in the Indian Ocean have strategic military implications. This is a relatively short voyage distance to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a choke point through which an estimated 12% of global transport passes, and 61% of the world’s oil tanker traffic is said to use the canal as well. Koffler said this poses a serious security threat.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yousaf al-Sharif shake hands at a press conference held in Moscow on February 12th. (via Maxim Shemetov/Pool/AFP Getty Images)
“If Russia is aware of the impending escalation against Russia, Ukraine will not rule out the possibility of allowing Putin to prevent or destroy suffocation, such as the impending deployment of NATO forces or the harsh economic measures designed for the Russian economy.
The deal, which allows Moscow to build military bases, is given a green light, but it involves serious logistical challenges. “The agreement between Sudan and Russia was finalised in February following a meeting between Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Yousef Sharif and Moscow’s Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” Koffler explained.
Just as Cold War-like tensions settle on the continent, US forces in standoffs of African countries
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Destroyer Krakov, a deputy president of the destroyer, located at the Black Sea Fleet’s naval base in Novorosysk, Russia, on September 23, 2014. (Sasha Moldvetz/Getty Images)
Thus, a highly worded comment by the State Department’s Fox News Digital that “the US knows of reported transactions between Russia and the SAF (Sudan Army) to establish a Russian naval facility on the Sudan coast.” It encourages avoiding dealing with the Russian defence sector by establishing Russian naval facilities, including Sudan.
“Promoting such facilities or other forms of security cooperation with Russia will further segregate Sudan, deepen current conflicts and put further risk of further regional instability.”
In (very) arid land in Sudan, the situation on Monday around Al-Fasher and nearby Zamzam refugee camps in the Darfur region is “terrifying,” posted by UN vice-commander Tom Fletcher.
Maxar satellite image of the ground at the main market Samzam IDP civilian camp in Alphasher on February 13th. (Satellite Images (c) Maxar Technologies via 2022 Getty Images)
Sudan’s civil warcelebrating a terrifying second anniversary between the government’s SAF and the Rebel Rapid Support Force (RSF). Tens of thousands have died and an estimated 13 million people have been uprooted from their homes. The United Nations describes it as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and UNICEF calls it “hell of hell.”
“We cannot overstate the cruelty and destructive nature of the RSF attack on Zamzam (refugee camps),” Sudanese researcher Eric Reeves told Fox News Digital this week. “The camps that have existed since 2004 have grown to over half a million, but they are no longer there.”
Ominously, Reeves stated, “The real death has just begun. Almost the entire population of Zamzam has fled, with the threat of RSF violence remaining in every direction.
The Sudanian Liberation Movement fighters, a Sudan rebel group operating in Darfur, Sudan, will attend a graduation ceremony on March 28, 2024 in the southeastern state of Gedalef. (AFP by Getty Images)
Another 30 people were reportedly killed on Tuesday in a new RSF attack on the Alphasher. And just this past week, the RSF rebels announced that they were establishing their own government. The State Department told Fox News Digital: “The United States is deeply concerned about the declaration of government actors in parallel with the rapid support forces (RSF) in Sudan. This attempt to establish this parallel government is responsible for the causes of peace and security, putting the de facto distribution of the country at risk.”
“It only further destabilizes the country, threatens the integrity of Sudan’s territory, and spreads wider instability across the region. The United States has made it clear that our concern is a restoration of peace and that Sudan’s conflict will bring to regional stability. He said.
Sudan displaced people gather at Zamzam refugee camp outside the town of El Fasil in the Darfor region of Sudan on July 1, 2004. (AP Photo/KarelPrinsloo, file)
Caleb Weiss, editor of FDD’s Long War Journal and Asylum Program Manager for the Bridgeway Foundation, placed part of his responsibility to keep the Sudan War in an end. Biden administration. He told Fox News Digital, “We have stopped promoting strictness on all sorts of meaningful peace negotiations/mediation/or external supporters of various groups and stopped them from getting them serious in previous negotiation attempts. This is where the Biden administration failed.”
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Weiss continued, “President Trump should remain aggressive in sanctioning those committed violent acts, but should also back down, including both parties, providing financial penalties and even providing serious peace negotiations that threaten financial punishments and seriously threaten international supporters’ responsibility to exacerbate the conflict.”