Sudan’s military, which has been in charge of the country since an October 2021 coup, is seen as leading the move towards establishing relations with Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is in Sudan’s capital to discuss the normalisation of ties between the two countries, two Sudanese officials say.
The trip to Khartoum on Thursday was part of an exchange of visits between Sudan and Israel. They include discussions on reaching and signing a normalisation agreement as well as military and security issues, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, hosted Cohen.
The pair discussed “ways to establish fruitful relations” between the two countries and “prospects of cooperation” in security, agriculture, energy, health, water and education, according to a statement by Sudan’s sovereign council.
Sudan agreed to take steps to normalise ties with Israel in a 2020 deal brokered by former US President Donald Trump’s administration, which also achieved normalisation agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco known as the Abraham Accords.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials about the Sudan visit, but Cohen’s office said he would later hold a news conference “upon his return from an historic state visit”. It did not elaborate.
As intelligence minister in 2021, Cohen made a ground-breaking visit to Sudan.
On Wednesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that an Israeli official said Sudan was likely to be the next country to join the Abraham Accords after negotiations between it and Israel had been held in recent days and weeks.
Sudan’s military, which has been in charge of the country since an October 2021 coup but says it intends to hand over power to a civilian government, is seen as having led the move towards establishing relations with Israel.
Civilian groups have been more reluctant and previously said any deal must be ratified by a transitional parliament that is yet to be formed.
