Sudan rules out normalization with Israel before 2022

We will have to wait until 2022. Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok dampened hopes of a rapid normalization of ties between Sudan and Israel on Tuesday, August 25, by declaring that this issue would not be decided until after the transition period in Khartoum, which is due to be completed within two years.

"The transition phase in Sudan is led by a broad coalition with a specific agenda aimed at completing the transition process and bringing peace and stability to the country, until free elections (in 2022). The transitional government has no mandate beyond these tasks to decide on normalization with Israel, "said Abdallah Hamdok, as quoted by the government spokesman.

A statement which undoubtedly calmed the enthusiasm of the American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who had tweeted a little earlier a photo of his flight plan with the phrase: "Happy to announce that we are on the FIRST flight NONSTOP from Israel to Sudan ".

Happy to announce that we are on the FIRST official NONSTOP flight from Israel to Sudan! pic.twitter.com/eOXNsBAozC

The head of American diplomacy has indeed visited Sudan as part of his regional tour to try to convince other Arab countries to normalize their relations with Israel in the wake of the United Arab Emirates.

The Hebrew state and Sudan are technically at war, and during the thirty years in power of Omar al-Bashir, Sudan has welcomed radical Islamists, notably Osama bin Laden who lived there from 1993 to 1996, before s 'settle in Afghanistan.

It is also to punish Sudan for its bad company that the United States imposed sanctions on it from the 1990s.

Contacts between Washington and Khartoum only deteriorated, and in 1997 their diplomatic relations were downgraded to the level of charge d'affaires. It was not until January that they fired ambassadors.

New deal between Washington and Khartoum

The fall of Omar al-Bashir has changed the situation.

"Good meeting with Secretary of State Pompeo," tweeted Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok in English on Tuesday after their meeting in Khartoum. "We had a direct and transparent discussion regarding the removal of Sudan from the list of countries supporting terrorism, [...] bilateral relations and US government support" to the ruling bodies of Sudan.

The new transitional government, formed in September 2019 after popular protests that ended 30 years of dictatorship, has decided to move closer to the United States and act to have Sudan removed from the blacklist of countries supporting the terrorism.

The Sudanese authorities indicated, in early August, "to be ready to continue working with the American administration, in order to foster a climate that will help remove the name of Sudan from the list of countries supporting terrorism and enter into a partnership ( with the United States), which will benefit both countries ".

With AFP

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