Qatar, Turkey using Sudan to destabilize Eritrea

Ousted Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, gave both Turkey and Qatar the chance to have major influence in his country.

However, this influence did not stop inside Sudan. Bashir also helped the two countries to have influence in Sudan’s neighboring states. Eritrea is a case in point.

Eritrea

In helping the two countries gain influence in Sudan’s neighboring states, Bashir hoped to serve his own interests, even at the expense of his country. He turned Sudan into a launch pad for Qatari interference in these states.

In March 2018, the Eritrean Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it accused Sudan of allowing Qatar to set up military camps against it on Sudanese territories. It said the camps were commanded by Eritrean opposition figure Mohamed Gomaa Abu Rachid who was based in Khartoum at the time.

It added that Qatari ambassador in Khartoum, Rachid al-Nuaimi, visited the Sudanese state of Kassala near the border with Eritrea with the aim of checking security conditions in it.

The Eritrean Foreign Ministry described this visit as “provocative”.

In April of the same year, the Eritrean Ministry of Information denounced the destructive role Turkey plays in his country through Sudan.

Stoking military conflicts

In November, 2019, the Eritrean Ministry of Information issued another statement in which it criticized Bashir for allowing Qatar to offer backing to the Eritrean opposition through Sudan.

The ministry cited ten points proving Qatari support to the Eritrean opposition.

Doha, it said, pursues destructive policies against Eritrea by backing ethnic confrontations through Port Sudan.

It added that Qatar worked to unify the Eritrean opposition and incite Eritrean youth to rebel against the government.

The ministry accused Qatar of encouraging Eritrean citizens to stage protests and training the members of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization in planting explosives and ambushing security outposts.