Sudanese Government: No update on state leader's meeting with Netanyahu

The information minister in Al-Burhan's government, which was scheduled to meet with Netanyahu in Uganda, said that the administration had not been updated. He said they are waiting for "clarifications" upon the return of the leader, who heads the state since the ouster of the tyrant Omar al-Bashir. The meeting, where the normalization of the relationship was agreed, comes after Khartoum's move away from Tehran

Sudanese Government: No update on state leader's meeting with Netanyahu

The Sudanese government on Monday (Monday) claimed that they had not been informed about the meeting of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sudan's Information Minister Faisal Salih told Reuters that there was no discussion at this meeting in which the two leaders agreed on starting a cooperation that would lead to a normalization process between the countries. He added that officials would wait for "clarifications" on al-Burhan's return to the state.

The Sudanese leader took off for Entebbe today and has a two-hour meeting with Netanyahu, who visited Uganda and met with its president, Yevri Mevani. Netanyahu said he believed that Sudan was "moving in a new and positive direction" and expressed that view to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Al-Burhan, for his part, said he wanted to help his state go through a process of modernization by removing it from isolation and placing it on the world map.

Al-Burhan heads the sovereign council, which has ruled the country since the overthrow of tyrant Omar al-Bashir in a military coup last April. The provisional administration headed by him was set up in September as part of a power-sharing agreement between Bashir's opponents and the state-run Temporary Military Council.

Since then, Sudan has been trying to get closer to the United States in order to gain its aid it needs due to the severe economic crisis it is suffering from. Yesterday, Pompeo said he had invited the general to visit Washington, in preparation for the resumption of diplomatic relations between the states after 23 years of diplomatic dissociation.

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The administration is waiting for "clarifications". Al-Burhan

Sudan leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on August 17, 2019 (Photo: Reuters)

The Prime Minister's Office said the meeting with the Sudanese leader is part of a "general trend of Muslim, Arab and African countries that want to be close to Israel." A few hours after the meeting, the Palestinians strongly criticized the move. "The meeting between the Sudanese leader and Netanyahu is a knife on the back of the Palestinian people," said Saib Erekat, senior PA official.

According to reports, in the past year and a half Israel has been secretly working to establish diplomatic relations with Sudan, as part of the tendency to compromise relations since Sudan began to move away from Iran in recent years. A breakthrough in Sudan's contacts may allow for a shorter route between Israel and Brazil. Last year, Netanyahu visited Chad with a view to furthering that goal, and Sudanese approval for Israeli planes to fly over its territory will help complete the move. The normalization of relations with Israel may also help Sudan in removing US sanctions.

In the past, Sudan was considered a security threat to Israel because of the assessment that Iran used its territory to carry out ammunition smuggling into the Gaza Strip. According to foreign reports, in 2009 Israeli aircraft attacked the delivery of weapons in the sedan. However, since al-Bashir's ouster, Khartoum has moved away from the Iranian regime. Sudan hopes to emerge from the list of United States counter-terrorism countries, which restricts its ability to receive financial aid and trade relations.

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