(by Pasquale PREZIOSA) Last 12 in October, the United States removed the previous embargo measures against Sudan.
This event was celebrated with the visit of the US Deputy Secretary of State to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, John Sullivan. Despite the presence of these signs of detente between the two countries, Sudan is showing signs of trust not towards the US but towards Putin.
The first signs of this political divergence came with the administrative conflict with a well-known law firm based in Washington DC (Arman Dabiri & Associates), between the Agricultural Bank of Sudan, the Sudanese minister of agriculture, and the Sudanese central bank.
Ironically, the law firm is the same that in 2010 represented the Libya of Muammar Gaddafi and, today's dispute, is similar to that with Libyan lawyer Anne Sefrioui.
Last November, the Sudanese president, on whom an international arrest warrant hangs, Omar al Bashir, met with Russian President Putin in Sochi, whom he requested protection. The Sudanese president was accompanied by high-level dignitaries such as: the foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour, that of defense, natural resources and energy. The Sudanese president believes that the US wants to oust him as president of Sudan, as during the interview with Sullivan, the US insistence on preventing Al Bashir from reappearing in the next elections in 2020 seems to have emerged.
From the 22 to the 24 November official talks were held to establish a strategic cooperation between the two countries (Russia Sudan), during which the Sudanese president asked Putin to be present in the country with a military base, the same request had been advanced to El Sisi Egypt in earlier times.
Sudan believes the US wants to interfere in Sudan and adjacent areas, Darfur and South Sudan. Sudan's request for help was supported with concrete acts.
The first was a Memorandum of Understanding with ROSATOM for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Port Sudan and, according to reports, the reactor should be installed within the 2019.
The second was an agreement with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu for the purchase of land-based military equipment, SU30 and SU35 airplanes and S300 air ground missiles.
The Sudanese president also met with Dimitry Medvedev with whom he expressed the same concepts of conflict with the US administration and his concern that his country could be destabilized.
President al Bashir took power with the rank of colonel in a coup d'etat in 1989. He was in the international spotlight for the Darfur genocide (200.000-400.000 dead) and negotiated autonomy with Southern Sudan. He is the first president of a country pending an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
During the 2015 African Union Summit in South Africa, in which Al Bashir was attending, an order to arrest the Sudanese president was issued but not executed by the South African High Court, undermining the enforceability of the international criminal acts. President Al Bashir has been re-elected several times with Bulgarian majorities in his own country and so is looming in 2020.
Sudan's problem is far from solved. The country has passed into the Russian orbit, like so many countries in Africa and North Africa in the wake of Putin's policy in the East, the Middle East, Africa and South America with Venezuela.
The Russian policy in the Syrian and Iranian conflict was the litmus test for the geopolitical alignment of the countries.
Syria has undergone a process of destabilization that has been blocked by the Russian intervention that has imposed that President Bashar al Assad remain in office, with the presence of Russian bases in the country.
All the countries that fear for their stability in the area are following the Syrian example. US geopolitics is struggling to establish its network in the area, with a Russian advantage now.
For Africa, should Russian Russian interest settle, it will be difficult to develop strategic cooperation plans with the West.