Iranian warships have arrived in Port Sudan in an apparent show of support for the government in Khartoum, one week after it accused Israel of bombing an arms factory in the Sudanese capital.
Iran’s state news agency confirmed yesterday that two vessels, a destroyer and a helicopter carrier have docked in Sudan’s main port on the Red Sea and their commanders will be meeting Sudanese officials.
So Sudan is on the front-line of more than one conflict. By allowing itself to be used as a conduit for the arms-route to Gaza, it has attracted the ire of the Israelis.
At the same time it is still engaged in a long-running war with religious overtones. The attempts to supress the spreading influence of Christianity from the south have resulted in the southern third of the country being sliced off to form South Sudan. But the conflict continues unabated in both Sudan and South Sudan.
The Israelis are neither friendly nor hostile to Christianity, per se. But they are probably quite happy to see the slow spread of Christianity from central Africa north into areas that have traditionally been dominated by Islam.