Saudi foreign minister on landmark visit to Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday for his first visit since last year’s ouster of long-serving President Omar al-Bashir.

The top Saudi diplomat will hold talks with senior Sudanese officials, including Chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok and Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din, the official SUNA news agency reported.

The talks are expected to tackle issues of mutual concern and ways of implementing previous agreements signed between Riyadh and Khartoum.

Bin Farhan’s visit comes weeks after Sudan announced the normalization of relations with Israel in October.

Sudan is also part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015.

Several Sudanese officials have spoken of a major Saudi role in removing Sudan’s name from the US state-sponsors terrorism list.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara