Salaries, numbers and missions .. Secrets about the Sudanese soldiers in Yemen

Al Jazeera Net - Khartoum

"Every Sudanese soldier wishes to be chosen to fight in Yemen." Thus one of those assigned to fight against the Houthis summed up the case of competing for a seat on a warplane flying there.

So far, the Sudanese army has sent five of its troops to the Saudi-Yemeni border and is preparing to send a sixth brigade after the upcoming Eid al-Adha.

In the event of the island Net, the agent says Corporal "H.S" that the maintenance of two brigades of the Sudanese army on the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and are replaced by the forces each year, and the formation of one brigade of five thousand soldiers.

Sudan's rapid support force in Yemen is estimated at 30,000, according to a public statement made by its commander, Lieutenant General Mohammad Hamdan Hamidati, deputy head of the military junta.

Military secrets
It is known that the number of troops involved in military operations and movements are among the secrets that military commanders do not prefer to talk about.

But Hamidati did so when he said, "We are fighting with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and our forces are among the largest participating forces in the coalition."

The military expert, Major General Amin Ismail Majzoub that the number of troops participating in the war in Yemen of military secrets, and this is the first time reveals a military official of the census.

Majzoub said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that these forces have been replaced and replaced since the start of the war in Yemen in March 2015.

"Of course, there is participation of soldiers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but the participation of the Sudanese forces remains the biggest, although the important is not the number, but the standards required for performance, discipline, competence and ethics in dealing with civilians," he said.

Attractive salaries
The material returns are a sign of the game of fortune they see smiling for everyone who is chosen, so that some of them choose to pay a month's salary to fight.

According to al-Askari, who spoke to Al-Jazeera Net, the Sudanese soldier who fights in Yemen receives up to 20,000 riyals per month, and the officer is paid 30,000 riyals. Saying that one salary equivalent to the end of service benefits for the military reached the rank of assistant after nearly forty years.

He notes that any Sudanese soldier who participated in the war in Yemen would be able to reach the end of his service after a year of 240 thousand riyals, which is transferred to the accounts of soldiers in Sudan at the official price, which is less than the parallel market price prevailing.

personal experience
On his own experience, HS says he went to Yemen in the second brigade and was paid a monthly salary of 13,000 riyals after the Sudanese government deducted 12,000 pounds.

He explained that the current deduction decreased to five thousand riyals of the salary of 25 thousand riyals, and should have been complete as the Saudi soldiers, Emiratis and Bahrainis.

He adds that the Sudanese military personnel assigned to them in the southern border of Saudi Arabia for a year, while the cost of elements of the rapid support forces to combat duties within Yemen for six months.

The war in Yemen enabled Sudanese soldiers to own homes in the capital, Khartoum, as well as limited investment, such as buying public transport vehicles, according to an officer involved in the war.

"Every soldier in the military and quick support is very much hoping to be sent to fight in Yemen, so much so that retirees have opted to fight there, but it seems that the absorption of retirees has now stopped," the officer told Al Jazeera.net.

Majzoub explains that the payment of money is equivalent to the exercises and combat tasks carried out by the mandated forces, and that the weapons used by them belong to the participating state.

Justifications for participation
Majzoub justified Sudan's participation in the war in Yemen as part of an Arab alliance endorsed by the Arab League and a decision by ousted President Omar al-Bashir.

He praises the roles of the Sudanese forces, saying they perform their functions efficiently to restore legitimacy in Yemen and defend the southern borders of Saudi Arabia and the holy places.

In this context, Majzoub mentions the participation of the Sudanese foreign army in Mexico, the battle of El Alamein and the Congo in 1962, and Kuwait in 1963 when the Iraqi president threatened to invade it, during the wars of attrition and October in Egypt and in Lebanon within the Arab deterrent forces of 1985.

The Sudanese have long been proud of their army's involvement in these foreign missions, but their participation in Yemen is at least controversial.

Many political forces - such as the National Umma parties, the Sudanese Congress, the Communist Party and the Popular Congress - have rejected the participation of Sudanese forces in the war waged by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Yemen's Houthis.