Sudan Reduces Troops in Yemen to 5,000, Says PM Hamdok

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced on Sunday that his country had reduced its military presence in Yemen to 5,000 troops, from a peak of 15,000. Sudan’s military is deployed in Yemen as part of a Saudi-led alliance fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi movement, which controls the capital, Sanaa. Following a trip to Washington, Hamdok told reporters, “Regarding Yemen we said that there is no military solution and there must be a political solution.” The drawdown follows a reduction in troops by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s main partner in the military coalition. Saudi Arabia and Yemen have been holding informal talks since late September on a ceasefire. The Saudi-led intervention and Yemen civil war have killed up to 100,000 people and brought hundreds of thousands more to the brink of starvation.