Sudan government did not know about Israel delegation’s visit

The Sudanese government yesterday refused to confirm if an Israeli delegation had visited Khartoum, as Israeli media reported.

According to the Sudan Tribune, reported conformed sources said the visit of the Israeli delegation was coordinated with military leaders within the Sovereignty Council without the knowledge of the government.

“The cabinet is not aware of an Israeli delegation and we have no confirmation that this visit took place,” government spokesman Faisal Mohammed Saleh told AFP. “We also have no information on a Sudanese delegation visiting Israel.”

Saleh added: “We have a preexisting deal that normalisation with Israel should be approved by the transitional parliament,” stressing that before that takes place, “there should not be any form of communication with Israel.”

The military and civil transition Sudanese rulers have followed the footsteps of the UAE and Bahrain regarding normalisation with the Israeli occupation, but they do not have an agreement on how quickly this will be achieved.

Sudan: Formation of transitional parliament to be postponed

Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that the head of the executive government, Abdullah Hamdok, has said that rapprochement with Israel should be decided by an elected government, not his own.

Meanwhile, the head of the Sovereignty Council, Major General Abdul-Fattah Al-Burhan, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda in February, believes rapprochement with Israel is in Sudan’s interest.

The Israel-Sudan normalisation deal, which was announced on 24 October, has yet to be formally signed and requires parliamentary approval.

Hebrew-language media reported on Monday, according to the Times of Israel, that a delegation had taken off from Ben Gurion Airport on its way to Khartoum for talks on the normalisation deal ahead of a visit by senior officials in the coming months.