Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir pictured during an interview with state television in Khartoum on 3 February 2012 (Photo: Reuters)

Bashir, who inspected the headquarters of the naval forces in Khartoum, underscored the importance to build a modern navy to protect those strategic interests.

He instructed the navy commanders to develop their equipments, provide the needs of their personnel and improve the working environment.

“Sudan is located on the Red Sea which is the most important water passage in the world that links between the east and the west,” he said.

“This sea [Red Sea] is being targeted and our economic interests, coasts and capabilities on it are also being targeted,” he added.

The Sudanese president pointed they want to build a navy that is capable of defend Sudan’s coasts and regional waters, saying “we only aim to protect our country not to win over others”.

The Sudanese army is currently taking part in the Saudi-led alliance fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Sudan says its participation in the campaign was out of keenness to achieve several objectives including maintaining the security of the Red Sea region.

Meanwhile, Bashir further reiterated that rebellion would end during the coming year “whether peacefully or by force”.

The Sudanese army has been fighting Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) rebels in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011 and a group of armed movements in Darfur since 2003.