Israel reportedly plans to send a first delegation to Sudan in the coming days to “firm up” a declared normalization deal between Tel Aviv and Khartoum.
The delegation would visit Sudan on Sunday, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source whom it said had been briefed on the “provisional itinerary.”
Neither Israeli nor Sudanese officials made any immediate comment on the report.
In October, US President Donald Trump announced at the White House that Sudan and Israel had agreed to normalize relations.
Sudan thus became the third Arab country — after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain — to agree to a normalization deal with Israel since August.
But no signing ceremony has been held between Sudan and Israel so far.
The development came after an agreement between Sudan and the US under which Washington agreed to remove Sudan from a list of countries it calls “state sponsors of terrorism,” unblocking economic aid to and investment in the African country.
Palestinian factions and people have roundly condemned the normalization deals between the Arab governments and Israel, calling out the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan for betraying their cause. The deals have been met with popular resentment on the Arab street as well.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s official news agency SUNA said US special envoy Donald Booth arrived in Sudan on Monday to hold discussions with senior officials of the African state on the outcome of removing Sudan from the US list of “state sponsors of terrorism.”
SUNA said that Booth had held separate meetings with Sudan’s Minister of Industry and Trade Madani Abbas Mdani and Undersecretary of the Labor and Social Development Mohammed al-Shabek.
The US envoy is scheduled to hold a meeting with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Thursday.