CAIRO – Sudan’s fragile interim government is deeply divided over the normalization of relations with Israel, as it faces intense tension by the Trump administration to the third Arab country to do so in the short term, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Washington’s push for Sudan-Israel is a component of a crusade to mark foreign policy achievements before america’s NOVEMBER presidential election.
Sudan gave the impression of being a natural target of the crusade of tension due to U. S. influence: Khartoum’s desperate efforts to remove itself from the US list of states that support terrorism. Sudan can only off download foreign loans and aid that are essential. to revive its suffering economy once this task has been eliminated.
While Sudan’s transitional government has been negotiating the terms of the country’s removal from the list for more than a year, the United States has more recently established a link to standardization with Israel.
Sudan’s most sensible army leaders, who rule jointly with civilian technocrats on a sovereign council, have spoken out in favor of normalization with Israel as a component of a quick agreement with Washington before the U. S. election.
“Now, whether we like it or not, the withdrawal (from Sudan from the terrorism list) is related to (normalization) with Israel,” Council Deputy Chief General Mohammed Dagalo told a local television channel on Friday.
“We want IsraelArray . . . Israel is an evolved country and the global world is running with it,” he said. “We will gain advantages from such RelationsArray . . . We hope everyone will take a look at Sudan’s interests. “
Such comments would have been unthinkable until recently in a country where public hostility towards Israel remains strong.
The coalition’s main civilian leader, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, argued that the transitional government had no mandate to comment on foreign policy issues of this magnitude.
When U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sudan last month, Hamdok suggested he move on to remove Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism and link it to Israel’s recognition.
“This requires a deep discussion within our society,” Hamdok told reporters this week.
Several Sudanese officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were legal to inform the media, said civilian leaders like to wait with any agreement after the U. S. election.
Officials said army leaders were seeking a quick agreement between the United States and Sudan, adding normalization with Israel, in exchange for an aid program. Officials said the military involved that the incentives now presented would be withdrawn after the U. S. election.
One point of friction is the duration of long-term aid to Sudan. An assembly in Abu Dhabi last month, attended by Sudanese, American and Emirati officials, ended without agreement.
Less than $1 billion was offered, usually paid through the Emirates, said a Sudanese official who participated in the meetings. The Sudanese team had asked for $3 billion to help save Sudan’s economy.
Dagalo, the army officer, tweeted Friday after meeting with U. S. envoy to Sudan Donald Booth in South Sudan, who had won a promise to Sudan of the terrorist list “as soon as possible. “
An Israeli official said discussions about normalization purely between the United States and Sudan.
“We are still here,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while discussing a confidential diplomatic matter and said the Israeli government hopes an agreement can be reached before the US election on November 3.
For Israel, a cordial date with Sudan would be a symbolic victory.
Sudan, an African Muslim-majority country, has long said it supports other Palestinians in their calls to an independent state. Khartoum hosted the historic Arab League summit after the 1967 Middle East War in which Israel took the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem – land that the Palestinians are for that state. The convention approved a solution known as the “three no” – no peace with Israel, no popularity of Israel and no negotiations.
Sudan’s designated country as a “sponsor of terrorism” dates back to the 1990s, when sudan briefly welcomed Osama bin Laden and other wanted militants. Gaza Strip.
Osman Mirghani, a Sudanese analyst and editor-in-chief of al-Tayar, said Sudanese leaders had no unlimited time to decide.
“The fact that the United States offers Array incentives . . . possibly wouldn’t last long. It’s related to america’s presidential election, on the one hand, and to the number of Arab states being normalized,” he said.
With the political trial of Sudan’s former autocratic leader, Omar al-Bashir, and facing war crimes and other charges, Sudan’s transitional government says the reasons for the terrorism directory have evaporated.
But many in the United States argue that Sudan atoned for the movements of its previous government.
Sudan has already agreed with the U. S. State Department, in theory, a reimbursement agreement for those who suffered the 1998 attacks on U. S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which were orchestrated through bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network while living in Sudan.
However, questions about the fairness of the proposed payment agreement for non-U. S. victims, adding those who worked for embassies and then became U. S. citizens, suspended their review in Congress, which will have to approve the agreement.
Meanwhile, some families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks have also initiated procedures to seek reimbursement in Sudan, although the country’s links to the terrorist plot are less clear. His complaint has confused the refund deal for the embassy attack and may simply deter further. U. S. Congress to exclude Sudan from the list.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese government realizes that it has a limited number of cards to play.
“We will have to withdraw from this list, which the United States uses as leverage to obtain some benefits from its appointments with Sudan, which is completely legitimate,” said Sudan’s acting foreign minister, Omar Qamar al-Din, in Geneva.
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Associated Press editors Matthew Lee in Washington, DC Joseph Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.