The US news site Axios, citing Sudanese sources, said that US, Emirati and Sudanese officials will hold a crucial meeting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday regarding a possible normalization agreement between Sudan and Israel.

What is important?

 Informed sources revealed that if the United States and the United Arab Emirates respond to Sudan's requests for economic aid, a normalization agreement with Israel similar to the two agreements signed with the UAE and Bahrain may be announced a few days ago.

details

• Director of Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House, Brigadier General Miguel Correa, who participated in the efforts to formulate the normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE, is expected to represent the United States at this meeting.

• The UAE, which is hosting the meeting, will be represented by National Security Adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed, who is also in charge of the file of talks with Israel.

• Sudan will be represented by civilian and military members of the transitional government, mainly the head of the cabinet of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and Minister of Justice Nasruddin Abdel Bari, who is also a US citizen.

According to Sudanese sources

, the Sudanese government demanded the following economic aid in return for signing a normalization agreement with Israel:

• More than $ 3 billion in humanitarian and direct aid to the budget, in order to deal with the economic crisis and the repercussions of the devastating floods.

• A commitment from the United States and the UAE to provide economic aid to Sudan over the next three years.

between lines

Israel is following Sunday's meeting closely, since the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, last February in Uganda, the two countries have continued secret talks on the possibility of normalization.

• The issue of normalization between Sudan and Israel was raised last Tuesday, at a meeting in Washington between Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Israel encouraged the Trump administration to stick to Sudan's request for economic aid as part of any normalization deal.

• In addition to economic aid, the Sudanese government wants the Trump administration to remove Sudan from the US State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, and this issue is indirectly linked to the normalization deal with Israel.

Pompeo supports removing Sudan from the list, and has set the end of October as a deadline for this step, according to US officials.

In order for Sudan to be removed from the terrorism list

, the following conditions must be met:

• The Sudanese government needs to pay $ 300 million in compensation to the families of American citizens who perished in the terrorist attacks against the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, and against the US destroyer "Cole" in 2000.

• The US Senate needs to pass a bipartisan bill, led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, that would grant Sudan immunity from any future lawsuits in the United States, and revoke its status as a state sponsor of terrorism.

• Pompeo is pressing Republican and Democratic senators to support the bill and vote on it by mid-October.

US officials believe that the normalization agreement between Sudan and Israel will convince Congress of the need to support the bill.

Abu Dhabi meeting

Today, Sunday, on the sidelines of Al-Burhan's visit to the UAE, the Sudanese official is expected to meet with the Emirati Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Zayed, to discuss a possible normalization agreement with Israel in exchange for American and Emirati aid.

The general scene

Al-Burhan supports normalization with Israel, and believes that it will help Sudan out of the economic and humanitarian crisis it is facing, according to Sudanese sources.

• Burhan only represents the military side of the government. The civilian side, and Prime Minister Hamdok, had several reservations about efforts to normalize relations with Israel for a long time for fear of popular protests.

• Sudanese sources said that Hamdok had become convinced during the last few days that normalization with Israel would serve Sudan's interests, and that al-Burhan had been given the green light to move forward if Sudan’s requests for economic aid were met.

The White House and Emirati officials declined to comment on these details.