Sudan denies secrets contacts with Israeli government

KHARTOUM, Mar 12, 2004 (Sudan Tribune) — Sudanese government has strongly denied Israeli press allegations that there have been secret contacts to set up relations between the Israeli entity and Sudan.

The minister of state at the Ministry of External Relations, Najib al-Khayr Abd al-Wahhab, denied the news strongly .

He said what the Israeli radio had reported was false and accused it of disseminating misleading information to torpedo Sudan’s relations with its Arab sister countries.

The daily Jerusalem Post said yesterday that a diplomatic source dismissed the report as baseless since Israel has no interest right now in developing relations with Sudan, which he described as an “impoverished, Islamic fundamentalist, pariah state that is slaughtering Christian residents”.

On Wednesday March 10, an Israeli Army radio reported that Israel had been holding secret and indirect contacts with Sudan and Libya, to set up diplomatic relations with the two countries.

Last month, the radio said, a high-ranking Jewish US official had met a high-ranking government official in Khartoum, to discuss Israel’s readiness to hold a series of meetings to set up diplomatic relations.