Sudan Receives Aid Package From Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.

Sudanese nationals, such as those pictured above, gathered in cities around the world this July to protest Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, demonstrating the contentious relationship between the Sudanese people and the military. (Wikimedia Commons)

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates gave Sudan the first half of a nearly $3 billion aid package on October 7. The package, which the countries agreed to in April 2019, consisted of both financial support in the amount of $500 million, as well as material aid in the form of wheat and petroleum products. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. each provided half of the aid package.

Many in the Sudanese government are hopeful that the aid can ease some of the financial and humanitarian stresses which have plagued the country since the secession of South Sudan in 2011. Prior to the South’s secession, the northern region of Sudan had relied heavily on the south’s vast oil reserves, with oil production serving as an important source of foreign currency. Many countries rely on foreign currency for trade, especially when importing food. Following the secession, Sudan fell into a severe economic downturn, with shortages of food and gas, contributing to civil unrest.

Many Sudanese citizens were highly reticent and even hostile toward the prospect of Sudan receiving aid from Saudia Arabia and the U.A.E. despite the country’s dire financial situation. Much of the controversy can be traced back to a general distrust of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC), which became the governing body of Sudan after a successful coup was carried out against former-President Omar al-Bashir. 

Just last month, after a summer of contentious negotiations between protest leaders and the TMC, a power-sharing agreement between the military and civilian protestors allowed the creation of a new government. The aid offer was made well before the creation of this government, however, and many saw it as an effort by the Saudis and Emiratis to buy influence among Sudan’s military leaders. 

When the TMC received the aid offer, it was headed by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Burhan had previously led Sudanese soldiers dispatched by Bashir to aid the Saudi’s controversial military action against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Commentators considered this connection between Burhan and Saudi Arabia highly suspicious, and many suspected Saudi Arabia of attempting to buy future support. 

Adil Gasem, a Sudanese trader, remarked at the time that “[Saudia Arabia and the U.A.E.] are lobbying and using money to try and control Sudan. We have enough resources to look after ourselves and our interests.”

Some economists, however, argue that the situation is too dire to be concerned with whether there are political strings attached to the aid. According to Muhammad Aljak, professor of economics at Khartoum University, “Sudan is in need of such assistance and loans to fill the gap in trade imbalance. It needs financial support to fill the areas of insufficiency in its annual budget.”

Both the international community and the Sudanese public are anxious to see whether the new Sudanese government will be less susceptible to efforts by foreign governments to use aid as a means of buying influence. The strength of Sudan’s new democratic institutions is still unproven.