Signs of a concrete rapprochement between Israel and Sudan are growing

The first direct and official contact took place between Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Sovereign Council Head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Entebbe last February (illustrative image) Gali Tibbon / Pool via REUTERS

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The Israeli intelligence minister said in a televised interview on Monday August 17 that Tel Aviv and Khartoum are preparing to sign a normalization agreement similar to the one signed between his country and the United Arab Emirates.

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The minister indicated that "  this historic step  " will materialize "  probably before the end of the year  ". This announcement was preceded by several gestures or concrete acts on the part of the new Sudanese authorities addressed to the Hebrew state.

Already last February, a first direct public and official contact between Tel Aviv and Khartoum took place in Entebbe in Uganda . Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, met Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu there.

Accelerate standardization

Very quickly, only two days after this meeting, normalization is on track. A military spokesperson announces, in Khartoum; that now Israeli planes can use Sudanese airspace.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan then told reporters that a small committee has been formed to study standardization . Several sources speak of "  numerous contacts in recent months between Khartoum and Tel Aviv  ".

On May 24, for example, the day of the end of Ramadan, Beyamin Netanyahu announces in the Council of Ministers that he called his Sudanese counterpart to wish him happy al-Fitr and to express his willingness to "  develop relations. bilateral  ”.

Israeli media revealed for their part that contacts between Sudan and Israel are permanent and that delegations from two countries "are  intensely continuing preparations to finalize the agreement  ."

Victim of a very hard economic crisis due to US sanctions and the amputation of most of its oil resources since South Sudan's independence, Sudan is now banking on the potential fallout from this acceleration in normalization with Israel.

► Read also: What can the Palestinians do after the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates?

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  • Sudan
  • Israel
  • Diplomacy

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