U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted on Wednesday, October 21, that Washington will make Sudan’s removal from the list of countries supporting terrorism conditional on the normalization of its relations with Israel. The U.S. presidential election is approaching and the Trump administration is eager to achieve its goal. Khartoum officially remains silent for the moment and the subject divides the leaders of the transition.
Quietly and until late last night, the Sudanese Sovereign Council held a very tense meeting to discuss normalization with Israel, a demand strongly demanded by Washington. The council is strongly divided on this issue: on the one hand, there are the military members of the council, traditionally linked to the Emirates, who encourage this normalization, and on the other hand, the civilians, led by Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, who prefer to separate the two subjects: the lifting of Sudan from the black list and the issue of normalization with Israel.
According to the Israeli press, it would be the military that would have won. This press speaks of normalization before the end of the week.
This Thursday, an Israeli official revealed that a plane directly connecting Tel Aviv to Khartoum arrived in Sudan on Wednesday with a government delegation and members of Mossad on board. They would have discussed future diplomatic relations between the two countries. In addition, a telephone conversation would have brought together Wednesday the U.S. President and the two Prime Ministers of Sudan and Israel on this issue.
The United States is now waiting for an official announcement from Khartoum. It would then be accompanied by a withdrawal of Sudan from the list of countries supporting terrorism, and thus from the list of countries where Americans are forbidden to travel. It would also facilitate private US investment in the country, and would wipe out a $3 billion slate of debt and increase US aid.