Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Arab League summit offers unique opportunity to end Sudan conflict, says Djibouti FM 

Arab League summit offers unique opportunity to end Sudan conflict, says Djibouti FM 

Arab leaders meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah for the Arab League summit on Friday will have a “unique opportunity” to resolve the conflict in Sudan, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, the foreign minister of Djibouti, told Arab News en Francais.

Sudan, itself an Arab League member, has been rocked by more than a month of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, displacing hundreds of thousands and killing hundreds.

“The conflict in Sudan is extremely serious,” Ali Youssouf, who has served as Djibouti’s minister of foreign affairs since 2005, said in a Zoom interview this week.

“Serious in the sense that there are two armies, both well-equipped militarily, engaging in combat in urban areas, specifically in the capital, resulting in damage, the loss of human life, and the displacement of the population.

“The gravity of this conflict in terms of magnitude, I believe, is beyond doubt.”


Saudi Arabia has played a leading role in the evacuation of foreign nationals and mediation efforts to broker a ceasefire. Commending the Saudi effort, Ali Youssouf said the Arab League must now collectively apply pressure on the warring parties.

“A unique opportunity presents itself now for pressure to be exerted by Arab heads of state on the belligerents and stakeholders in Sudan to stop the conflict, establish a ceasefire, open humanitarian corridors and strive to get the political process back on track,” he said.

“This is the opportunity that our heads of state must seize to exert maximum pressure on Sudanese leaders.” He added: “I believe that the Arab League summit should come out with a firm resolution.”

Djibouti is a small, strategically located country on the northeast coast of the Horn of Africa, situated on the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, which lies to the east and separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden. It joined the Arab League in 1977.

Given its location at the meeting point between the Middle East and Africa, and as the site of multiple military bases and commercial hubs belonging to rival world powers, Djibouti’s foreign policy is uniquely multifaceted.

This perspective has no doubt colored Djibouti’s stance on another key feature of Friday’s summit — the first to include the government of President Bashar Assad of Syria since his nation’s suspension from the Arab League in 2011.

“First, I can assure you that Djibouti has not set any conditions for (Syria’s) reintegration,” said Ali Youssouf.


“We believe that Syria, as a founding member of the Arab League, has always had a central role… It is truly a central country that has always been at the center of Arab League actions. That is the first element.

“The second element is that geopolitics are changing. Regional geopolitics in the Middle East are dynamic, not static. And I believe that today, it is time for Syria to regain its seat because Syria is still a key player, not only within the Arab League but in the Middle East region. It is a country that cannot be ignored.”

Common concerns among Arab leaders about Syria’s reintegration are security, given the continued presence of Daesh extremists on its territory, refugee rights, and the ongoing sanctions leveled against Assad by the Arab world’s Western allies.


“Of course, the pending issues will be the subject of discussions between the heads of state and the Arab leaders who will certainly address the grievances or conditions raised by some in an attempt to resolve them through dialogue,” Ali Youssouf added.

Furthermore, he views Friday’s summit as an opportunity to consolidate recent improvements in Arab relations with Iran following the Chinese-brokered thaw between Riyadh and Tehran earlier this year.

“I believe it is in the interest of Middle Eastern countries that this antagonism that exists between Iran and Arab countries finds a solution,” said Ali Youssouf.


“Iran often used factions and terrorist groups to pursue a certain policy in Middle Eastern Arab countries. Arab countries have always employed a policy of what is called ‘containment,’ trying to contain to some extent Iran’s actions in Arab countries.

“I believe that this time, reason may have prevailed. Thanks to Chinese mediation, Iran and Saudi Arabia have restored their diplomatic relations and we are already seeing the consequences in terms of security and political situations in a number of countries.”

For Ali Youssouf, the Arab League summit is also an opportunity to demonstrate the growing appetite for Arab unity and leadership on the world stage — leadership he believes can be provided by Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

“I think we need leadership,” he said. “Arab countries can unite and become strong if there is leadership from the Arab world — a leading country that can assume this responsibility against all odds.”

He added: “We need, in the Arab world, one or two countries that can be the driving forces behind this unification. I believe it is through their strength, their cohesion, that these two countries can lead this campaign of strengthening Arab relations for a better future for Arab peoples.

“I’m thinking of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. These two countries can play a role, I would say, as locomotives, and it is very important that the relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia are strong to pull all the others toward the future that we, the Arab peoples…desire and call for.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
×