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The Sudanese leader told US officials that if Sudan is not removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism by the end of 2020, the African country will freeze the normalization process with Israel, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The two countries announced the normalization of diplomatic relations on October 23 after Khartoum reportedly accepted the deal in exchange for being removed from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, which grants Sudan immunity from the lawsuits of the victims of terrorism.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chairman of the Sudan Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
(Photo: AFP)
Although the Trump administration has already started the process, a vote in Congress is pending and the NYT reports that the president of the Sudan Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if the bill will not approved by the end of 2020, the normalization process would be put on hold.
Pompeo reportedly tried to reassure al-Burhan and promised that Congress would pass the bill in the coming weeks.
“The whole thing felt forced from the start by an administration that wanted to use a terrorism designation as a political tool to try to achieve normalization with Israel,” said the director of the Middle East security program at the Center for a New American Security, Ilan Goldenberg. NYT.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and al-Burhan in Khartoum, Sudan
(Photo: Reuters)
“When you prepare these types of very transactional deals with unrelated elements that don’t make a lot of sense, this happens sometimes,” he added.
As long as Sudan remains on the list of sponsors of terrorism, foreign investors may be reluctant to invest in the crisis-stricken African nation, which is now hosting tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees due to the civil war raging across the country. border.
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