After returning from a quick diplomatic mission to the Sudanese capital on Thursday, Israel’s foreign minister stated that the country anticipates fully normalizing relations with Sudan sometime later this year.
Eli Cohen addressed the media following a day-long journey to Khartoum that included high-level discussions with military officials, including Sudan’s current military leader, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who orchestrated a coup that toppled the nation’s transitional government in 2021.
The normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco in 2020 were all mediated by the United States.
“The agreement is likely to be inked this year, and it will be the fourth” such arrangement, Cohen added.
The announcement could assist Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in deflecting attention from a recent outburst of violence with Palestinians and widespread public resentment over his plans to reform the nation’s judicial system, which detractors claim will seriously undermine Israel’s democratic system of checks and balances.
A victory for Israel would enable Sudan’s ruling generals to persuade other nations, like the US and the UAE, to provide financial assistance to the country’s struggling economy.
The powerful armed forces of Sudan and a well-known pro-democracy movement are nevertheless locked in a political impasse.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said earlier in the day that full diplomatic relations with Israel would be restored.
Sudan joined Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates to sign a normalization pact with Israel in 2020.
However, the Sudanese people’s public solid opposition caused the process to halt.
The fragile democratic transition of the African nation was then upset when the military overthrew the government of Sudan in October 2021.
Cohen gave the Sudanese a draft peace treaty “that is expected to be signed after the transfer of authority to the civilian government that will be constituted as part of the transition in the nation.
“The Sudanese ministry further stated that the meetings aimed to improve military and security cooperation.
In light of a recent spike in violence, it also mentioned the need to achieve “stability between Israel and the Palestinian people.”
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