On a visit to Khartoum, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with the Sudanese civilian and military transitional authorities on Wednesday 6 January. On the menu of discussions: debt relief for Sudan and normalization of relations with Israel.
Sudan and the United States continue the cooperation that began with the fall of Omar al-Bashir’s regime in 2019. A few weeks after Sudan’s official removal from the list of states supporting terrorism, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin paid a whirlwind visit to Khartoum, during which he held numerous meetings and signed two major agreements with the Sudanese authorities.
The first is of an economic nature. The United States is committed to helping Sudan to repay $1 billion in debt to the World Bank. Sudan will thus be able to obtain new loans, about 1 billion dollars per year, which it had been denied for almost 30 years under the reign of Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan hopes to take advantage of this international aid to develop its infrastructure but above all to alleviate the burden of the major economic crisis in which the country is plunged, with galloping inflation and an enormous debt, reaching 60 billion dollars.
Second part of this visit, on Wednesday, Sudan also took another step towards the normalization of its relations with Israel. Khartoum has pledged to respect the Abraham Accords, sponsored by the United States to rehabilitate the Jewish state in the Middle East.
Khartoum and Tel Aviv have de facto already warmed up their relations in recent months. Several Israeli delegations have visited Khartoum, Tel Aviv has pledged to send tons of wheat to Sudan allowing the government not to lift subsidies. But there is still one condition on the Sudanese side: the parliament, which has still not been formed, will have to vote on whether or not the country will adhere to the Abraham Accords.
The visit of the American Secretary of the Treasury is a milestone in the annals. It is the first of its kind in several years. It marks Washington’s willingness to help Sudan to reintegrate the concert of nations and to recover.
