United States and Sudan sign two major cooperation agreements

The US Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, was visiting Sudan where he increased the number of meetings and the signing of two agreements.

(illustrative image) REUTERS - POOL

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Visiting Khartoum, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with the Sudanese transitional civil and military authorities on Wednesday, January 6.

On the agenda: debt relief for Sudan and normalization of relations with Israel.

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With our correspondent in Khartoum,

Eliott Brachet

Sudan and the United States are continuing their cooperation initiated since the fall of the Omar al-Bashir regime in 2019. A few weeks after

Sudan's official withdrawal from the list of states supporting terrorism

, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has made a lightning visit to Khartoum, during which he stepped up meetings and signed two major agreements with the Sudanese authorities.

The first is economic.

The United States pledges to help Sudan repay $ 1 billion in debt to the World Bank.

Sudan will therefore be able to obtain new loans, around $ 1 billion per year, which it had been denied for almost 30 years under the reign of Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan hopes to take advantage of this international aid to develop its infrastructure but above all to lighten the burden of the major economic crisis in which the country is plunged, with galloping inflation and a huge debt, reaching 60 billion dollars.

Normalization with Israel

The second part of this visit, on Wednesday, Sudan also took a new step towards the

normalization of its relations with Israel

.

Khartoum pledged to abide by the Abrahamic accords, sponsored by the United States, to rehabilitate the Hebrew state in the Middle East.

Khartoum and Tel Aviv have

de facto

already warmed their relations in recent months.

Several Israeli delegations went to Khartoum, Tel Aviv pledged to send tons of wheat to Sudan allowing the government not to lift the subsidies.

But there is still a condition on the Sudanese side: the Parliament, which has still not been formed, will have to vote on the country's adherence or not to the Abrahamic accords.

Another subject raised during this visit, the

negotiations around the Renaissance dam

in Ethiopia which crystallizes tensions with Egypt and Sudan.

The United States has acted as mediator in these discussions, which are to continue next Sunday.

Khartoum's comeback?

The visit of the US Secretary of the Treasury is to be remembered in the annals.

This is a first of this level for several years.

It marks Washington's desire to help Sudan re-integrate the concert of nations and recover.

Since the fall of General Omar al-Bashir two years ago, the country has been led by a team that brings together civilians and soldiers.

But these transitional leaders are struggling to get the country out of a serious economic crisis.

Washington seems determined to accompany them for a lasting return of the military to the barracks, in order to leave the management of the country to civilians.

This return to favor of Khartoum with the United States could allow Sudan to become attractive again for international investors, even if there remains a pitfall: its capacity to reduce deficits and repay its debt remains very low.

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• Sudan

• United States

• Israel