Sudan-Saudi summit meeting in Morocco held during 'private meeting'

Omar al-Bashir flew from Khartoum with a delegation of ministers and officials on Thursday afternoon, travelling to the same city as King Salman – on holiday since July 24.

This is the second time the two premiers have met unofficially in Morocco, with the exact details of their conversation cloaked.

According to the official Saudi news agency SPA, King Salman received Bashir on July 25, 2016 for what appeared to be a summit meeting with both countries' respective defence and foreign chiefs in attendance.

Bashir has courted uncertainty every time he travels to another country after the International Criminal Court issued an indictment for his arrest in March 2009.

According to the court order, Bashir is wanted on charges of alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his government's actions in Darfur.

This indictment was the reason the Sudanese president could not attend King Salman's summit on terrorism in May as he could not be seen to appear alongside US President Trump.

Sudan is currently under official US sanctions for, among other substantive claims, allegedly supporting terrorism. During the latest assessment of these sanctions last month, Washington accepted that Khartoum had made substantive steps on the issue of terrorism, but temporarily delayed decision on lifting the sanctions until October.

It is possible that the two sides were discussing Sudan's involvement in the Saudi-led coalition's war in Yemen – where more than 100,000 people have been killed.

The Sudanese military have been fighting under a mercenary-led command in Yemen in the fight against the country's Houthi rebels.