Official sources in Sudan indicated that the meeting will seek to strengthen bilateral ties, but did not specify the central issues to be addressed amid Sudanese accusations against the United Arab Emirates for alleged support from that country to the paramilitaries fighting the government.

On the eve, official Sudanese media announced the shooting down of an Emirati plane allegedly transporting Colombian mercenaries and military equipment for the so-called Rápid Support Forces (RSF).

According to the official media, the aircraft was shot down as it was preparing to land at Nyala airport, the capital of South Darfur, controlled by RSF but constantly besieged by the army.

The war in Sudan has already killed tens of thousands people, displaced 13 million people and plunged this poor country into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to UN reports.

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