Sudan offers Russia its first naval base in Africa
The deal would be a strategic advantage for Moscow, giving it an unprecedented perch overlooking critical Red Sea trade routes, in a troubling development for the US.
Sudan’s military government has offered Russia what would be its first naval base in Africa and an unprecedented perch overlooking critical Red Sea trade routes, according to Sudanese officials.
The deal, if it happens, would be a strategic advantage for Moscow, which has struggled to deepen its foothold on the continent. It would be a troubling development for the US, which has sought to keep Russia and China from controlling African ports where they could rearm and refit warships and, potentially, choke off vital sea lanes.
Under a 25-year proposal Sudan’s military government presented to Russian officials in October, Moscow would have the right to station up to 300 troops and dock as many as four warships – including nuclear-powered vessels – at Port Sudan or another, yet-to-be-named Red Sea facility, the officials said. The Kremlin would also get the inside track on lucrative mining concessions in Sudan, the third-largest gold producer in Africa.
From Port Sudan, Moscow would be well-placed to monitor maritime traffic to and from the Suez Canal, the shortcut between Europe and Asia that carries around 12 per cent of global trade.
In exchange for allowing Russian forces the long-term use of its territory, the Sudanese officials said the country’s beleaguered military regime would get advanced Russian anti-aircraft systems and other weaponry at preferential prices as it pursues the civil war with the rebel Rapid Support Forces.
A Sudanese military official told The Wall Street Journal that Sudan needs new weapons supplies, but that doing a deal with Russia might generate problems with the US and European Union.
Sudan’s government and armed forces did not respond to requests for comment. The prospect of a Russian base on the Red Sea alarms American security officials, who have been jockeying with Beijing and Moscow for years over their competing military aspirations in Africa. Russian naval activities are currently limited by the lack of warm-water ports where ships can resupply or undergo repairs. A base in Libya, for instance, or the Red Sea would allow Russian vessels to sail in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean for longer periods than are now within their reach.
A senior US official said a Russian base in Libya or at Port Sudan could expand Moscow’s ability to project power and allow it to operate with impunity.
Then there are the less tangible benefits of having global reach. A base in Africa “increases Russia’s leverage by giving them more international prestige and clout”, said retired air force Major General Mark Hicks, who commanded US special operations units in Africa.
Russian troops and mercenaries are scattered around the continent, from Equatorial Guinea to the Central African Republic. The Kremlin, which did not respond to several requests for comment for this article, has been angling for permanent access to Port Sudan for five years. General Hicks said a base deal is “definitely good” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sudanese authorities have encouraged Moscow’s ambitions but, until now, remained coy about finalising such a pact.
China has built commercial ports around Africa, part of its vast infrastructure-building campaign. In 2017 Beijing completed its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, which sits on the vital Bab al-Mandab strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. The pier there is long enough to dock an aircraft carrier.
The Chinese position sits about 10km from Camp Lemonnier, the biggest US military base in Africa. The Pentagon has some 4000 personnel at the camp, which supports US and allied operations in Somalia and houses a quick-reaction force to respond to threats to American embassies in the region.
The US also stations commandos and other forces in Somalia itself, where they help elite local troops fighting al-Shabaab – an Islamist insurgent group affiliated with al-Qa’ida – and the Somali branch of Islamic State.
The Sudan-Russia deal-making comes as Moscow has lost some of its initiative in Africa. Just a couple of years ago, countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic were hiring mercenaries from the Kremlin-aligned Wagner Group to protect their leaders and fight their enemies.
Some of Wagner’s ventures on the continent have unravelled since 2023 when its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rebelled against Putin, his former sponsor, and shortly afterward died when an explosive device blew the wing off his plane at 28,000 feet. The Kremlin’s new official guns-for-hire military force so far has failed to replicate Wagner’s financial success and political sway in Africa.
The Sudan conflict, which began in 2023 with a power struggle between rivals Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his No.2, Lieutenant General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, presents a new opportunity. Regional and global powers alike are using it to pursue their own interests, producing a tangle of shifting alliances.
Moscow initially backed General Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces rebels and used its ties to gain access to Sudanese gold deposits. Ukraine helped push rebel forces out of the capital, Khartoum.
Those allegiances soon reversed. The rebels found Russian support insufficient and initiated contacts with Ukraine. That led Russia to pivot to the Khartoum government, Sudanese and rebel officials said.
Iran, Egypt and Turkey have supplied drones to the Sudanese military, current and former Sudan-focused officials said. But in 2024 Khartoum turned down a proposal to set up a naval base controlled by Tehran to avoid alienating the US and Israel, according to Sudanese officials.
The US and United Nations, meanwhile, have accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the Sudanese rebels, charges Emirati officials deny.
The Sudanese regime’s eagerness to strike a deal with Moscow reflects its deteriorating position on that battlefield.
Though it secured control of Khartoum, the Rapid Support Forces in October seized all of Darfur, the region in western Sudan where the group is slaughtering civilians in a repeat of the alleged genocide the group’s antecedents carried out in the early 2000s, according to human rights organisations.
Countrywide, diplomats estimate as many as 150,000 people have died through conflict, starvation and disease, and 12 million have been forced from their homes.
The Wall Street Journal
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