KHARTOUM: Qatar's emir started a visit toandnbsp;Sudanandnbsp;on Wednesday at a time of strained ties with his country's Gulf neighbours over its perceived support for the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood.
Sheikhandnbsp;Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thaniandnbsp;was greeted atandnbsp;Khartoumandnbsp;airport by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, at the start of what an analyst called a meeting of two regionally-isolated regimes.
The two were to hold talks at a conference centre along the Blue Nile.
Sheikh Tamim's stop, planned to last about six hours, coincides with unprecedented tensions betweenandnbsp;Dohaandnbsp;and otherandnbsp;Gulf statesandnbsp;over the widely-banned Muslim Brotherhood.
The Sudanese regime, which took power 25 years ago in an Islamist-backed coup, is essentially based on support from the Brotherhood, said Safwat Fanous, a political scientist at the University of Khartoum.
He told AFP that the emir's visit appears aimed to "break the isolation" ofandnbsp;Qatarandnbsp;from its Gulf neighbours and Egypt.
Energy-rich Qatar has been a key backer of Sudan's cash-strapped government, and Khartoum's foreign ministry said the emir's visit came at the invitation of Bashir.
Sudanese officials last month said Qatar was providing $135 million in support for Sudan's rich but under-developed archaeological heritage.
Qatar also hosted talks which led to the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur between Khartoum and rebel groups in the western region of Sudan.
The Daily Star
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست