Sudan denies reports it’s improving ties with Israel in exchange for military support

Sudan has denied recent reports of alleged efforts to complete its normalisation process with Israel in order to gain support from Tel Aviv and its ally the United States.

According to an initial report by Sudanese news outlet Al-Rakoba earlier this month, Lieutenant General Al-Sadiq Ismail – the personal envoy to Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan – secretly visited Tel Aviv in early April to discuss ongoing normalisation efforts with Israel, reportedly telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Al-Burhan intends to finalise normalising relations with the occupation state.

Although Sudan initially signed the infamous ‘Abraham Accords’ back in 2020, the formal signing of a treaty had been postponed until now due to the many crises Khartoum has been undergoing since then, including its ongoing civil war.

The offer to complete the normalisation process was reportedly set to be in exchange for Israeli military support for Sudan, with the Sudanese envoy’s key aims having been to also seek Israeli officials’ help in presenting army chief Al-Burhan in a favourable light to the US administration of President Donald Trump.

READ: Sudanese asylum seekers abused in Israeli detention facility used for Palestinians

The envoy was also reported to have attempted to discuss with the officials Khartoum’s tense relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), over accusations that Abu Dhabi has been arming the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) throughout the war.

Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Youssef Al-Sharif has denied reports of Khartoum’s efforts to improve ties with Israel, telling the London-based news outlet Middle East Eye on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Saturday that “we aren’t trying to do anything” and that “I don’t think I have any information regarding normalisation. I don’t know of any recent contacts [with Israel].”

Al-Sharif stated that if the reports are true, then the Sudanese envoy’s trip “does not reflect government policy”, insisting that “it is the same with the reports that there was a proposal for hosting Palestinian refugees from Gaza – we had not been approached.”

READ: UAE under scrutiny over alleged arms shipments to Sudan