
Sudan's military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said on Saturday that a series of recent meetings between Sudanese and Israeli officials were part of security and intelligence cooperation, and not political in nature.
Burhan, who was interviewed on Sudanese state TV and quoted by Haaretz, Burhan also said "there is no secrecy" in his regime's ties with Israel, saying "the Israelis are not enemies."
All visits by Sudanese officials to Israel "carried out by intelligence and security agencies… enabled us to foil terrorist cells in Sudan," Burhan said, stressing no senior political officials were part of any delegation to Israel.
He called the visits "legitimate" and said the security cooperation "serves the interests of the country," and helps keeping Sudan and the region safe.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported that a Sudanese envoy arrived in Israel recently on a mission to promote closer ties between the two nations.
In mid-January it was reported that an Israeli delegation visited Sudan. An Israeli delegation also visited Sudan this past November.
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.
However, despite the agreement, no steps for full normalization between Israel and Sudan have taken place as of yet.
In September, Sudan's Foreign Minister, Mariam Sadiq Al Mahdi, played down the normalization agreement between her country and Israel, telling The National in an interview that Israel will not be opening an embassy in Khartoum any time soon.