AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Sudan’s transitional government has agreed to normalize ties with the regime in Israel after the US removed the African state from its terrorism blacklist and offered it financial aid in exchange.
President Donald Trump of the US sealed the normalization deal in a phone call on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Transitional Council Head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
A joint statement issued by the trio said the leaders had agreed “to the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel and to end the state of belligerence” between the two sides.
An official signing ceremony is expected to be held at the White House in the weeks to come.
Following the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, Sudan is the third Arab country to have been pushed by the United States into a normalization deal with Israel since August.
In recent months, Trump, seeking re-election in early November, has been scrambling to hammer out peace treaties between Arab governments and Israel in order to portray them as foreign policy gains.
Both Israeli and US government figures have repeatedly hinted since August — when the UAE announced normalization with Tel Aviv — that other Arab countries would follow suit.
Announcing the deal on Friday, Trump said “at least five more Arab states” wanted similar deals.
The latest development follows an agreement between Sudan and the US, under which Washington agreed to remove Sudan from a list of countries it calls state sponsors of terrorism, unblocking economic aid to and investment in the African country.
US media cited sources as saying in late September that Khartoum had been offered a large sum of cash aid by Washington in exchange for establishing ties with Israel. The US and Sudan had been negotiating the amount during the talks leading up to the deal
Shortly after the joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the new agreements with Sudan the start of “a new era” in the region.
He thanked Trump for setting the stage for the deal, saying Israeli and Sudanese delegations would meet soon to discuss commercial and agricultural cooperation.
The agreement is likely to spark outrage among the public in Sudan, where pro-Palestine sentiment runs deep. Several street protests had been held in recent weeks amid speculation of Khartoum’s imminent normalization with Israel.
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source : PressTV
Saturday
24 October 2020
6:57:44 AM
1080518
Sudan’s transitional government has agreed to normalize ties with the regime in Israel after the US removed the African state from its terrorism blacklist and offered it financial aid in exchange.