The African country of Sudan’s army has been engaged in civil war since April last year.

They are fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who originally had made gains in the early stages   of the conflict. They had caught the army off guard which had allowed the RSF to capture large areas of territory in the South West of the Sudanese capital.

Desperate to retake control the Sudanese Army have been looking for international Allies - and have seemingly found one in Russia.

Sudan and Russia in alliance

This week the news outlet Mena reported the following  on the 5th of June 2024 in an article entitled “Sudan army set to give Russia Red Sea base in exchange for arms”.

The article states: “Sudan's army is expected to allow Moscow to build a naval logistics base on the Red Sea in exchange for arms as a top official from the north-eastern African country visits Russia to negotiate the deal… Malik Agar, a former rebel leader and army chief Gen Abdul Fattah Al Burhan's deputy on the ruling Sovereign Council, flew to Russia on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet President Vladimir Putin later this week on the sidelines of an economic forum in St Petersburg… The base would accommodate up to four vessels and include storage for weapons, fuel and ammunition. Up to 300 navy personnel could stay at the site at any given time.”

In another article published on the 3rd June by Bloomberg entitled “Sudan Deputy Visits Russia as Weapons-for-Port Deal on Table” we read “Sudan’s move is likely to stoke Western concern about Russia’s growing profile in Africa, where Moscow has also forged tight relations with governments in Mali and the Central African Republic. The initiative comes as the Sudanese military strives to regain swathes of territory lost to the Rapid Support Forces militia in a conflict that erupted in April 2023 and may have killed as many as 150,000 people"

Russia & Sudan in the Bible

In the Bible, the country we now known as the Sudan is mentioned as the territory of Cush and is often translated Ethiopia.

This country appears in latter day prophecies such as Ezekiel 38.

In that prophecy, we see a picture of the state of various nations just before Jesus returns. The prophecy, in verse 5, mentions Ethiopia being allied with Persia (modern Iran) and Libya.

These nations are said to be led by someone called “Gog” who is the “Chief Prince of Rosh” (v2 YLT).

Rosh “or the Rus” are the peoples of Russia. In fact the ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, known as the Septuagint uses the same name for Russia used in modern Greek today.

A sign of the times

As Bible students then we would expect to see the peoples of Sudan and Russia in alliance - and thats exactly what we are beginning to see as we look up from our Bibles and examine our news stories today.

How exciting therefore that we can see another sure sign of the times happening before our eyes helping the faithful know that soon the Lord Jesus Christ will return to establish God’s Kingdom.

This has been Matt Davies joining you. Join us again next week as we examine the news in the light of Bible Prophecy.