Sudan restores ties with Israel

This year Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed a peace accord to end hostilities and normalize relations with Israel. The United States and Israel will boost trade with Sudan and help the conflict-ridden nation to recover after the brutal dictatorial regime of dictator Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan has agreed to mend fences with Israel after an effort led by the White House to reconcile old conflicts. The Israeli Prime Minister referred to the situation as a “tremendous turnaround.” Sudan is the third Arab country to formally announce its normalization of ties with Israel after Bahrain and the UAE in 2020. Mr. Netanyahu earlier met with his Sudanese counterpart General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Uganda.

Israel’s normalization of relations with Sudan is symbolic given their historical past. After the 6 day war in 1967, Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Arab leaders congregated in Sudan to pass the Khartoum resolution which crafted the “three no’s policy” of no recognition of Israel, no peace with Israel, and no negotiations with the Jewish state.

WATCH: Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding with General Electric aimed at increasing power generation by up to 470 megawatts, as the country struggles to emerge from an economic crisis https://t.co/cUjtYmzlvJ pic.twitter.com/HkWZZqpzNO

— Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) October 16, 2020

As part of the deal, the United States and Israel will take the necessary steps to restore Sudan’s sovereign immunity and commit to strengthening her democracy, food security, efforts to fight extremism, counter-terrorism, and untapped economic potential. Next week delegations will meet to discuss cooperation in the sectors of aviation, agricultural technology, migration of peoples, and other issues. There was further discussion on how the leaders could work together to create a better future for their peoples and advance the cause of peace across the region.

In a Joint statement by the parties concerned, progress was attributed to the bold leadership from Prime Minister Hamdok, Chairman al-Burhan, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who all appreciated Trump for his pragmatic approach to ending old conflicts and building a future of peace and prosperity for everyone across the region.

Trade deals

In a sign of renewed confidence with Sudan, the United States energy company, General Electric recently signed a memorandum aimed at increasing power generation in the country by 470 megawatts. GE has committed to supply over 600,000 Sudanese homes with power from mobile turbines and to restore three power plants. 

Terror list

Trump had earlier expressed a desire to remove Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism provided the country paid Washington reparations for past attacks on American citizens. Sudan’s president welcomed Trump’s announcement shared on his Twitter account. This greatly helps the nation attract investment from businesses without facing the risk of prosecution from US authorities. In addition, Washington will press for Sudan to receive debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Critics argued that Washington is leveraging the ratification of the deal with Sudan normalizing ties with Israel. Sudan is the fifth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel, Egypt and Jordan were the first to normalize relations for their own internal reasons. 

On speakerphone while at the White House, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister and Sudan’s leadership where he expressed his hope that several other Arab states would recognize Israel including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

الشكرُ الجزيل للرئيس ترمب على تطلعه إلى إلغاء تصنيف السودان كدولة راعية للإرهاب، وهو تصنيف كلف السودان وأضر به ضرراً بالغاً. إننا نتطلع كثيراً إلى إخطاره الرسمي للكونغرس بذلك. https://t.co/GeScTPfb0k

— Abdalla Hamdok (@SudanPMHamdok) October 19, 2020