Sudan rules out normalising ties with Israel

The Sudanese information minister and government spokesman, Ahmed Othman, ruled out yesterday Khartoum normalising ties with Israel, Quds Press reported.

“We have a clear and steadfast vision since independence in 1956 [regarding normalisation with Israel] and this does not change except by the return of the right to its owners,” Othman said.

He added:

The issue of normalising ties [with Israel] is not on our agenda. It is a kind of imagination promoted by some people. No one proposed it to us from the inside or outside the country.

Regarding whether there was a link between lifting the 20-year-old American sanctions on Sudan and normalising ties with Israel, he stressed there was no link of this kind.

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“The Americans did not propose any condition related to normalising ties with Israel during the discussions,” he said, noting that the Americans oppressed Sudan throughout the sanctions but “when they had recognised Sudan’s important role in the region, they started to lift them.”

Meanwhile, Othman stressed that his country maintains “high-level” relations with Cairo, stressing the current tension is only on mass media and is related to some issues which “do not affect the strategic relations” between the two countries.

“The main open channel between Khartoum and Cairo is the contact between the two presidents,” he said. “We, in Khartoum, are keen to consolidate our relations with Cairo despite the negative role being played by the Egyptian media which causes tension.”

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A number of Arab and international media outlets claimed that the US lifting of sanctions against Sudan will come in line with efforts to bring Sudan to normalise relations with Israel.