Sudan ramps up Saudi Arabia, Turkey contacts amid growing Red Sea cooperation

Sudanese officials held parallel talks in Riyadh and Ankara as Saudi Arabia and Turkey deepen security cooperation around the Red Sea and fighting intensifies in Sudan.

ANKARA — Sudan stepped up high-level contacts with Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Monday, with Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem holding talks in Riyadh as senior army commander Yasir Abdelrahman Hassan Elatta visited Ankara, amid growing Saudi-Turkish coordination over Red Sea security.

In Riyadh, Salem and Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan co-chaired the political consultations between the two countries and oversaw the establishment of a Saudi-Sudanese Coordination Council, aimed at putting bilateral cooperation on a more institutional footing, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The two sides also pledged to deepen cooperation across multiple fields, SPA reported.

Meanwhile, Elatta visited Ankara as the official guest of Turkish Chief of General Staff Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, meeting Defense Minister Yasar Guler as well as Bayraktaroglu, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement without providing further details.

Elatta’s visit follows a steady stream of high-level contacts between Ankara and Sudan’s army-led authorities. Salem met Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara on July 28, when the two sides also signed a memorandum on cooperation between their diplomatic academies. His visit followed Sudanese Sovereignty Council chief and army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s June 2 meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Background: Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been ramping up their support for Burhan and the Sudanese Armed Forces, which have been fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, since April 2023, in a conflict that has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Erdogan reiterated his backing for Burhan in an Al-Jazeera interview released Monday. “I truly saw Sudan’s leader, at this stage, as a leader worthy of Sudan,” Erdogan said, referring to Burhan, according to a transcript by the Turkish presidency.

Salem’s visit to Riyadh and Elatta’s visit to Ankara come amid renewed RSF drone attacks around Khartoum and intensified fighting in Kordofan, the strategic belt separating SAF-held central and eastern Sudan, including Khartoum and the Red Sea port city of Port Sudan, from the RSF’s stronghold in Darfur, including major cities such as Nyala, El Geneina and El Fasher.

While the SAF retook Khartoum and the central Al Jazirah region in 2025, the RSF remains dominant across Darfur and parts of Kordofan.

Why it matters: Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been deepening security coordination in the Red Sea, where renewed Houthi attacks have increased risks to shipping and Saudi energy exports. 

Riyadh unveiled plans in late July for a 14-country maritime defense coalition, including Turkey, Sudan, Egypt and Pakistan, to help secure the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden.

The initiative followed the Houthis’ July 20 declaration of a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia and subsequent attacks on Saudi-linked shipping and infrastructure, prompting Riyadh to strengthen protection of its southern maritime routes.

With its Red Sea coast lying directly across from Saudi Arabia, Sudan sits along the strategically important shipping route.

Know more: Saudi Arabia and Turkey have increasingly aligned behind Burhan and the Sudanese Armed Forces, while the United Arab Emirates has been accused by UN experts and Western officials of supplying the rival Rapid Support Forces, allegations Abu Dhabi denies.