January 11, 2018
Egypt, Saudi Arabia alarmed over Sudan-Turkey
accord on strategic Sawakin island
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
A recent deal to lease the Sudanese Red Sea Sawakin island to Turkey for development raises concerns in Cairo and other Arab capitals.
In late December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir signed an agreement to temporarily lease Sudan's Suakin Red Sea island to Turkey for development by Turkish investment projects.
Swakin Island is located on the western coast of the Red Sea in eastern Sudan. It covers an area of 20 km2, 66 meters above sea level, and is 560 kilometers away from Khartoum.
In medieval times, the name of Sawakin was mentioned in the writings of Arab travelers, such as Ibn Battuta, whose name was associated with the escape of many Umayyad princes from the Abbasid state.
In the sixteenth century AD was conquered by Ottoman Sultan Salim I and became the center of the Ottoman fleet in the Red Sea. The port included the seat of the Ottoman governor of the southern Red Sea.
Sudanese Foreign Minister
Turkey will rebuild a ruined Ottoman port city on Sudan’s Red Sea coast and construct a naval dock to maintain civilian and military vessels, Sudan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday Dec 26.
The restoration at Suakin was agreed during a visit to the ancient port by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said.
The countries also agreed “to build a dock to maintain civilian and military vessels,” Ghandour told reporters, adding that they had signed an agreement “that could result in any kind of military cooperation”.
The agreements come three months after Turkey formally opened a $50 million military training base in Somalia as it exerts increasing influence in the region.
While explaining why he is paying so much attention to this island that the Sudanese call “the gate to Africa,” President Erdogan used the metaphor of “reincarnation.”
Suakin lost its stature and fell into ruin when Port Sudan was built 30 miles to the north between 1905 and 1909. Erdogan accused Western countries of turning Suakin into a “ghost island.”
“They razed it to the ground. … This is in their nature,” Erdogan said Dec. 25 during a speech at Khartoum University. “Your razing of this place is like us shaving our beards. We will rebuild and reconstruct it in such a way that, like a shaved beard, it will regrow much more abundant."
Erdogan’s December 2017 tour to the Sudan, Chad and Tunisia was his fifth visit to Africa since he became president in 2014. He also signed a military accord with Tunisia to train Tunisian soldiers in Turkey and also to invest in the defense field.
Since Turkey declared 2005 "The Year of Africa,” it increased its number of embassies in the continent from 12 to 38. It has a sizable military presence in Somalia, where it just opened a base in September. The base, which cost about $50 million to build, now houses 200 Turkish troops and has a military academy that will train Somali officers.
Turkey also sent its first military detachment to a base near Qatar's capital of Doha in June. So far, there are no more than 100 soldiers at a base that can accommodate 5,000. Troop strength is expected to reach 3,000.
Ayman Shabana
"Suakin island deal complies with the Turkish strategy to increase its presence in Africa in general and in the northeastern part of the continent in particular," Ayman Shabana, deputy director of the African Research Institute of Cairo University, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
He expressed his belief that the announced purposes of the island deal, including Turkish development projects, archeological restoration and cultural revival, are only meant to cover Turkey's real purpose of establishing its presence southern Egypt, opposite to Saudi Arabia and near the Gulf region.
"I believe the deal is meant to pave the way for a Turkish military presence in the island, which is a threat to the Egyptian national security," the professor told Xinhua.
Tarek Fahmy
"Suakin island is very close to the border region of Halayeb and Shalateen, so the island deal also implies a Sudanese challenging political message, especially that it was preceded by Sudanese remarks claiming rightful ownership of Halayeb and Shalateen," Tarek Fahmy, Egyptian political science professor at Cairo University told Xinhua. The two countries also have a territorial dispute over the border region of Halayeb and Shalateen, which are currently under Egyptian control.
Xinhua said Egyptian experts believe that Sudan's island lease to Turkey is a message to other regional players including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel, as Sudan reassured that it is neither part of any regional alliances nor joining one led by Turkey and expressed openness to all peace-loving states.
On the other hand, Egypt's ties with Turkey deteriorated following the military ouster of the democratically election President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
US-client Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster as the then army chief, accuses Turkey, besides Qatar, of supporting terrorism and interfering in Egypt's domestic affairs by hosting fleeing Brotherhood members.
Egyptian media
"Sudanese President Omar Bashir is playing with fire in exchange for dollars," wrote columnist Emad Adeeb in the Cairo daily Al-Watan, alluding to what he said was Bashir's attempt to gain from regional rivalries.
"Sudan is violating the rules of history and geography and is conspiring against Egypt under the shadow of Turkish madness, Iranian conspiracy, an Ethiopian scheme to starve Egypt of water and Qatar's financing of efforts to undermine Egypt," wrote Adeeb, whose column was headlined: "Omar Bashir's political suicide."
Of particular concern to Egypt, according to commentaries and news reports, is Sudan's burgeoning military ties with Turkey, including a joint naval facility on the Red Sea to repair civilian and military vessels that was announced by Bashir and the Turkish leader this week in Khartoum.
Sudan, which is in the grips of an economic crisis, complained this month to the United Nations that a maritime demarcation agreement reached in 2016 by Egypt and Saudi Arabia infringed on what it claimed to be Sudanese waters off an Egyptian-held border region it claims as its own. Egypt denies the Sudanese claim.
Egyptian media, meanwhile, insist that Bashir has ceded to Turkey sovereignty over Suakin, a small but strategic island off Sudan's Red Sea coast. Erdogan has denied his country is constructing a naval base there, saying Turkey only plans to restore Ottoman-era ruins in the area.
Emad Hussein, editor of Cairo's Al-Shorouk daily, wrote Thursday that Erdogan's visit to Sudan, the first by a Turkish head of state, "cannot be viewed ... except as harassment of Egypt and an attempt to annoy it by any means possible."
Saudi newspaper Okaz
There was no official comment from the Saudi government about the Swakin island but Mohammed Abu Talib, a writer for Saudi newspaper Okaz, reminded readers that Sudan was saved from sanctions thanks to the Saudis. He accused Sudan of serving Turkey’s expansion aspirations.
“Turkey is blatantly seeking expansion in the region and using its influence, especially against Egypt and Gulf countries. The most dangerous aspect of this visit was handing over to Erdogan Suakin Island, which faces Jeddah and which he sees as the symbol of the Ottoman Empire,” Abu Talib wrote.
At the same time, the UAE paper, The Gulf News
commented, “Iran can use the new Turkish base in Sudan to ship more weapons to Houthis. Turkey, by using the new military facility, could send more soldiers to Qatar or intervene more in Egypt by manipulating the Muslim Brotherhood. This no doubt will worry Jordan as much as Egypt. With Turkish and Sudanese provocations, Sudanese aspirations for Halayeb [the disputed area] can be reignited.”
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Disclaimer and Fair Use Notice: Many articles on this web site are written by independent individuals or organizations. Their opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Journal of America and its affiliates. They are put here for interest and reference only. More details
Your donation
is tax deductable.
Article by
Journal Writes