Sudan, Israel to sign peace agreement under civilian government: Cohen
February 2, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – A bilateral agreement on normalisation of relations between Israel and Sudan would be signed within some months after the formation of a civilian government in Khartoum, said Eli Cohen Israeli foreign minister.
Cohen paid a historic one-day visit to Khartoum on Thursday where he met with the head of the military-led Sovereign council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
“The meeting (..) discussed ways to establish fruitful relations with Israel and boost prospects for joint cooperation between Khartoum and Tel Aviv in the fields of agriculture, energy, health, water and education, especially in the security and military fields,” said a statement released in Khartoum by the Sovereign Council.
After his return to Israel; Cohen held a press conference where he announced that the purpose of the visit was to discuss steps towards the signing of a peace agreement in the coming months.s
He stressed several times that this agreement would be signed after the formation of a civilian government in Sudan.
In a response to questions raised by the journalists about the future of relations with Sudan if no civilian government is formed, he said that al-Burhan assured him that after the signing of a political agreement and the formation of a coalition government, “then they will hand over the reins of power to this government.”
He added that the restoration of a civilian government is crucial for Sudan because it would pave the way to establish good relations with the United States and western countries.
Hemetti excluded
The visiting Israeli foreign minister did not meet Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemetti who had established his own channel of contact with Tel Aviv through the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
In a short statement released by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) media department, Hemetti stated that he had no information about Cohen’s visit and he did not meet the visiting delegation.
In a tweet about the visit of the Israeli foreign minister to Khartoum, Barak Ravid an Israeli journalist disclosed that The RSF took advantage of the pause of the normalisation process between the two countries to establish contact with Mossad.
“Some of the Mossad activities created a mess in relations with Israel because General Burhan did not like the relationship between the Mossad and his deputy,” Ravid wrote.
The Israeli intelligence service wanted to get “intelligence and security issues” he wrote.
On January 6, 2021, Sudan signed the Abraham Accords where the east African country reaffirmed intentions to move forward with normalization.
However, the coup d’état hampered efforts to sign the peace agreement and other cooperation deals.
Tel Aviv observed Washington’s decision to stop any cooperation with the military rulers in Khartoum after the coup.
(ST)