Sudan's Foreign Minister on Sunday played down the normalization agreement between her country and Israel, saying Israel will not be opening an embassy in Khartoum any time soon.
In an interview with The National the minister, Mariam Sadiq Al Mahdi, said, “There is no talk at any official level, and I’m telling you this as the foreign minister, about opening an Israeli embassy in Khartoum.”
Al Mahdi firmly denied reports about visits by Israeli delegations to discuss co-operation in different sectors and said there were no plans to build an Israeli diplomatic outpost.
“There's not any sign of normalization with Israel … and there is no talk at any official level,” she said. “I’m telling you this as the foreign minister … Abolishing a law on boycotting Israel does not mean that we consider opening an Israeli embassy in Khartoum.”
She reiterated the need for Sudan’s new parliament to address the issue of Israel relations when it is formed before anything could be done.
“Any decision in this respect should be taken by the interim legislative parliament during the transitional period,” she told The National.
Sudan became the third Arab country to normalize ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump Administration in October, 2020, following the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The agreement between Israel and Sudan was announced days after then-US President Donald Trump officially removed Sudan from the list of nations that sponsor and finance terrorism.
In Sunday’s interview, Al Mahdi said improving relations with Israel was necessary to improve ties with Washington and the West and said it was tied to support for Sudan joining the World Trade Organization after nearly two decades of failed attempts.
“This file has been completely linked to lifting Sudan off the US state sponsors of terrorism list,” she stated.
“We have been trying to be a member of the WTO, whose terms stipulate that there should be no boycotts between member states. We want to be a country open to the world and different partnerships,” added Al Mahdi.