The head of the Sudanese transitional government, Abdullah Hamdok, announced Tuesday that his government "does not have a mandate" to take a decision on normalization with Israel, and that its mission is "limited" to complete the transitional process leading to elections.

This came after talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who arrived in Khartoum on a direct flight from Israel.

Pompeo wrote on Twitter, "I am pleased to announce that we are on board the first official non-stop flight from Israel to Sudan."

Earlier, the US State Department clarified that the minister would meet with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok and Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, "to discuss Washington's support for a civilian-led transitional government in Sudan, and to deepen Sudanese-Israeli relations."

However, the Sudanese government informed the US delegation that normalization is not among its tasks and that it does not have a mandate to take this step.

Government tasks
The government spokesman and Sudanese Minister of Information, Faisal Muhammad Salih, stated that Hamdok responded to "the American request to normalize relations with Israel," by saying that "the transitional phase in Sudan is led by a broad coalition with a specific agenda to complete the transition process and achieve peace and stability in the country leading to elections. Free. "

"The transitional government does not have a mandate that goes beyond these tasks to decide on normalization with Israel," the prime minister added.

Reuters reported that Hamdok requested a separation between normalization with Israel and the US decision to remove Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.

For its part, the ruling coalition of "Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change" stressed that normalization with Israel is not among the issues of the transitional government.

He explained in a statement that he held talks with Hamdok on Monday evening, during which he reviewed files, including the visit of the US Secretary of State, adding that the meeting "concluded by affirming the right of the Palestinian people to their lands, and their right to a free and dignified life."

The joint meeting welcomed Pompeo's visit, and considered it "a step in the way of building balanced foreign relations that achieve the national interest."

Previous steps
Sudan does not establish any diplomatic relations with Israel. However, the head of the Sovereignty Council had previously met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda last February, and he announced at the time that "the two sides agreed to start cooperation leading to the normalization of relations." Al-Burhan confirmed later that his meeting with Netanyahu was aimed at "maintaining Sudanese national security."

In March, Khartoum allowed Israeli planes to fly over Sudanese airspace, but did not allow planes coming from Israel to land.

And last week, Sudanese Foreign Minister-designate Omar Qamar al-Din strongly denied discussion of relations with Israel within the government.

He expressed his astonishment at the statements made by Foreign Ministry spokesman Haidar Badawi in this regard. Qamar al-Din added that Badawi was not assigned to talk about normalization with Israel, and after 24 hours of Badawi’s statements, he was relieved of his post on 19 August.

Other files
In addition to efforts at normalization with Israel, Pompeo's talks dealt with Washington's support for the democratic transition process in Sudan, and the acceleration of the removal of Sudan's name from the American list of states sponsoring terrorism.

The Sudanese Prime Minister described his talks with the US official as direct and transparent, expressing his aspiration for concrete positive steps to support the Sudanese revolution.

This is the first visit by a US Secretary of State in several years, and it comes within a tour that includes Israel, Bahrain and the UAE.