Tel Aviv: Sudan has agreed to let Russia establish its first naval base in Africa. The Sudanese foreign minister announced that a long-delayed plan to build a military port in the Red Sea will go into effect. The Russian move was expected after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Syria, was forced to leave Syria that was taken by the rebels.
Zvi Magen, former Israeli ambassador to Russia and a senior researcher in the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said that after losing its massive foot hold in Syria, Russia is making a big effort to establish a military presence in Africa “the nearest place to the Mediterranean which is one of Moscow’s main strategic seas.”
The change in Syria raised questions about the future of Russia’s naval base in Tartus on the Syrian Mediterranean coast. In 2023, Moscow and Sudan announced their intention to sign an agreement to establish a logistics centre for the Russian Navy in Sudan.
The announcement came during a joint press conference by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq Ali. If the deal is implemented, Russia, in addition to the United States and China, which have military bases in Djibouti to the south, will have its own port in Africa.
Israeli sources said that for Russia a massive presence in Africa is very important. “Moscow want to be in the continent ad for many reasons and this effort is expected to gather momentum after the changes in Syria,” one Israeli source said. This explains why Russia continues to explore alternative options for establishing naval bases in Africa, such as Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti.
According to a report in the BBC, two Russian ships linked to its military have docked at the Kremlin’s naval base on the Syrian coast at Tartus, with experts suggesting that an anticipated evacuation of the facility has finally begun. The BBC report cites analysts that anticipate Russia would reduce its military footprint from Syria following the fall of the Assad regime in December – which it supported throughout the civil war. Large quantities of military hardware have been moved to the port in recent weeks and have been visible in satellite photos analysed by the BBC.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
