KHARTOUM - Sources close to Sudan's Sovereign Council have revealed new details about the results of Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's visit to Ankara and his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, said Burhan and Erdogan agreed to activate agreements and memoranda of understanding in the fields of security, defense, manufacturing and military training.
The sources told Al Jazeera Net that the understandings included Sudan's purchase of more Turkish drones, which the Sudanese army owns a group of, and the expansion of training on their use, and the training of forces for special tasks, and the development of Sudanese defense industries, which have achieved sufficiency in devices, equipment and heavy weapons, and were exported to African and Arab countries, and the development of Sudanese drones of the model "Zajel" that are manufactured locally.
The same sources pointed out that the Sudanese-Turkish understanding also included the revival of the Joint Strategic Cooperation Council, security cooperation, exchange of information and experiences, and coordination in several files that the sources refused to disclose.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Khartoum in mid-January, when he was director of Turkish intelligence, and met with Burhan and discussed "sensitive files" related to Sudan and the region.
In May, Erdogan expressed Ankara's willingness to host "inclusive negotiations" to end the conflict in Sudan, but neither side in the conflict formally responded to the initiative.
Burhan's visit to Turkey is the fifth of its kind, after Egypt, South Sudan, Qatar and Eritrea since the outbreak of bloody fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April, which continues to this day.
Economic Cooperation
In addition to military cooperation, the sources added that it was agreed to activate cooperation agreements in the fields of agriculture, trade and energy signed between the two countries at the end of 2017, and included the allocation of agricultural land to Turkey in Sudan, and that Turkey undertake the rehabilitation and restoration of the historic city of "Suakin" on the Red Sea coast and manage it for a specific period.
According to the same sources, Erdogan expressed the readiness of Turkish companies to contribute to the reconstruction of the capital Khartoum after the cessation of the war, including Khartoum International Airport and institutions, bodies and infrastructure destroyed by armed clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Burhan visited Ankara on Wednesday and held closed-door talks with Erdogan that lasted more than two hours, while his escorts met with their Turkish counterparts, and the most prominent escorts are Foreign Minister-designate Ali al-Sadiq, Director General of the General Intelligence Service Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal, and Director General of the Defense Industries System Lieutenant General Mirghani Idris.
Erdogan visited Khartoum in December 2017 in the first visit by a Turkish president to Sudan since 1956, the date of Sudan's independence. During the visit, the Turkish president was accompanied by an economic delegation that included about 200 businessmen, and 22 agreements were signed in the agricultural, economic and military fields.
The annual trade exchange between the two countries is $ 500 million, and it was agreed at the time to increase it to $ 10 billion in preparation for reaching $ <> billion in the future.
Turkish investments in Sudan amount to about $ 650 million, and more than 200 Turkish companies operate in the country in the fields of construction, services and real estate.