August 18, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government on Tuesday disavowed statements by the official spokesman of the foreign ministry about ongoing contacts with Jerusalem over the normalization of bilateral relations between Sudan and Israel.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman Haydar Badawi Sadiq on Tuesday morning welcomed the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Also, in statements to several Arab media, he expressed his support for normalization and peace with Israel stressing that his country is looking forward to peace with Israel.
In a short statement released in the evening, the acting foreign minister said they "learned with astonishment" the statements of Haydar Badawi Sadiq, the ministry’s spokesman, about normalizations with Israel.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Sudan confirms that the issue of relations with Israel was never discussed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," said Omer Gamar-Eldin.
"Ambassador Haidar Badawi was not assigned to make any statements about this matter".
The statements of the foreign ministry spokesman were the main topic of discussion in Sudanese forums and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed his statement while the Palestinian officials slammed the move.
On 3 February 2020, the head of the Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Uganda to discuss ways to normalize bilateral relations.
However, he backtracked upon his return to Khartoum saying Sudan foreign policy should be decided only by the civilian government of Abdallah Hamdok, according to the transitional constitution.
Other political groups said that the transitional government has a limited mandate and only an elected government can take a decision in this respect.
Late on Tuesday, the spokesman said he made his statement about the normalization of relations with Israel "as a free Sudanese citizen, the Revolution enabled him to speak his mind".
Before to add " because I felt that the Foreign Ministry was absent and left in the dark regarding this file" and referred to what al-Burhan said after his meeting with Netanyahu.
"I did not say more than that al-Burhan put Sudan on the right track with his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister," he added.
(ST)
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