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The White House speaks of an “important step towards the creation of peace in the Middle East”: after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Sudan has announced the normalization of relations with Israel. Vice Speaker Judd Deere announced Friday, citing US President Donald Trump on Twitter.
Trump called the announced normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel “historic” in front of journalists at the White House. “The State of Israel and the Republic of Sudan agreed to make peace,” he said. The president had telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk and the president of the country’s Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Burhan, to network. “This is an incredible deal for Israel and Sudan. For decades, Sudan was at war with Israel,” Trump said.
The White House had previously announced that Trump had informed Congress of his intention to remove Sudan from the notorious US list of state supporters of terrorists.
In return, Sudan agreed to compensate American victims of terrorism and their families. The payment of 335 million dollars (about 290 million euros) has been received from the transitional government of Sudan, the White House announced on Friday.
Internationally isolated as a terrorist state – now delisted
Sudan, with its predominantly Muslim population, does not officially have, like many Arab countries, diplomatic relations with Israel. Especially since the overthrow of autocratic President Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019, Khartoum has been trying to improve relations with the international community. With the northeastern African state of about 42 million people having been in deep economic crisis for years, even the new and fragile interim government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamduk has not been able to change much.
Sudan’s classification as a terrorist state had isolated the country from northeast Africa internationally. After being removed from the list, it should become easier for international companies and banks to do business in Sudan. Furthermore, it will also make it easier for the Khartoum government to regain access to aid from multilateral donor institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The only other countries on the U.S. terrorist list are North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Sudan has been there since 1993.
