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Arabic press review: Mohammed Dahlan secretly visits Sudan

Sources tell Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the exiled Palestinian politician arrived in Khartoum aboard an Emirati plane
Senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan gestures during an interview at his office in Abu Dhabi (AFP)

Dahlan on a secret visit to Sudan

Mohammed Dahlan, who once headed Fatah in Gaza and is now a security adviser to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, is currently in Sudan, sources in the country have told Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

The sources said Dahlan arrived in Khartoum aboard an Emirati jet accompanied by an unnamed Emirati minister.

They added that Dahlan held meetings with leaders of the transitional military council that has run the country since the ousting of long-term president, Omar al-Bashir, in April and also with leaders of Sudanese political parties.

Sudanese activists have raised banners condemning the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt's intervention in the country at demonstrations.

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Yemeni anger over Saudi Arabia

Recent moves made by Saudi Arabia in Al-Mahrah Governorate in eastern Yemen have angered Yemeni leaders, an official Yemeni source has told online newspaper Arabi21.

Saudi military colonialism sparks protest movement in Yemen's east
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The source said that the deployment of Saudi and UAE forces in the country, nominally to fight Houthi rebels, was undermining the authority of the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

The Yemeni source added that the replacement of government forces with Saudi forces and their allied militias at the Oman–Yemen border crossing of Sarfait, and warships in the coastal area of Hawf in Al-Mahrah had "provoked" members of Hadi's government.

According to the same source, statements made by Yemeni Interior Minister Ahmed al-Maysari, who is also deputy prime minister, have been interpreted as being specifically directed at Riyadh days after its provocative moves in Al-Mahrah.

Al-Maysari said recently that his agreement with the Riyadh-led coalition was for their forces to move towards the Houthis in the north, not to the east.

Three political parties in Al Mahrah have called for expelling the Saudi forces, in line with the demands of a popular movement rejecting their presence in their city.

Bouteflika's brother faces death penalty

Three former officials in Algeria, including the brother of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, are facing the death penalty for crimes committed during Bouteflika's rule, Algerian newspaper El Khabar reported.

According to lawyer Ammar Khababah, the three detainees - Said Bouteflika, who worked as an adviser to the former president, and two long-serving former intelligence officials, Athmane Tartag, and Mohamed Mediene, known as "Toufiq" - are facing life sentences and execution.

The charges against the three Algerian officials are "undermining the authority of the army" and "conspiring against the authority of the state".

The penalty for the charges range between 20 years imprisonment, life imprisonment and the death sentence, according to the newspaper.

* Arabic press review is a digest of reports that are not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.

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