Date: May 25, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Sudan general vows to back Saudi Arabia against Iran 'threats' Agence France Presse KHARTOUM: A top Sudanese general vowed to back regional ally Saudi Arabia against "all threats and attacks" from its rival Iran during talks with the kingdom's powerful crown prince, Sudan's ruling military council said Friday. General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy chief of Sudan's new Transitional Military Council, met with Mohammad bin Salman in Jeddah, the official Saudi Press Agency reported earlier in the day. "Sudan is standing with the kingdom against all threats and attacks from Iran and Houthi militias," Dagalo, widely known as Himeidti, told the crown prince during their meeting, the council said in a statement. Himeidti also said the military council would continue deploying Sudanese troops to Yemen as part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. It was Dagalo's first international trip since Sudan's army generals took power after they backed protesters in ousting longtime-leader Omar al-Bashir last month. The statement, the council's first major foreign policy announcement, amounted to a continuation of the deposed leader's policy. Bashir deployed troops to Yemen in 2015 as part of a major foreign policy shift that saw Khartoum break its decades-old ties with Iran and join the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. "The Sudanese forces will remain in Yemen to defend the security of Saudi Arabia," Himeidti said, according to the statement. Hundreds of Sudanese soldiers and officers are fighting in Yemen and have often suffered casualties spurring calls at home for withdrawal. Sudanese media reports claim that many of the troops deployed in Yemen are from the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary group, which is headed by Himeidti and is now part of the regular army. Days after Bashir was ousted, oil-rich Gulf states Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged to inject $500 million into Sudan's central bank and $2.5 billion to help provide food, medicine and petroleum products. They said the move was aimed shoring up the Sudanese pound. In recent years Sudan has been hit by an acute lack of dollars, a key factor behind the nationwide protests that first erupted in December and led to the toppling of Bashir. Both Gulf nations have voiced backing for Sudan's military rulers, who are facing calls from protesters and Western powers to cede power to a civilian transitional government.