Moscow milks historic ties with generals to do business with ruling council

摘要

Sudanese Ambassador to Moscow Nadir Babiker attended the Army 2020 forum, organized by the Russian Ministry of Defence on the outskirts of Moscow from 23 to 29 August. As US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was talking to Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum (Africa Intelligence, 01/09/20), Babiker was doing the same with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. Posted to Moscow by Omar al-Bashir in 2015, Babiker has kept a low profile since the fall of the Bashir regime in April 2019, but has been kept in situ by the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al- Burhan. More adept at foreign policy than Hamdok, since coming to power Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dalgo (aka Hemeti) have rekindled their close and long-standing ties with Russia. Burhan had a long meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Forum in Sochi last October.