Israel sends first delegation to Sudan since normalization

Demonstrators hold Sudanese flag. (Reuters)

• Israeli army radio reported Monday that the trip was under way
• Sudan was the third Arab country this year to announce a deal with Israel

JERUSALEM: Israel on Monday sent a delegation to Sudan, its first since last month’s announcement of normalization of relations between the two countries, a senior Israeli official said.
For days there have been rumors in Jerusalem that a delegation would visit Khartoum in the wake of the accord announced by US President Donald Trump on October 23.
Israeli army radio reported Monday that the trip was under way.
The Israeli official confirmed the report to AFP but declined to say who was in the delegation.
Sudan was the third Arab country this year to announce a deal with Israel, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in February in Uganda with Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council.
In August, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled on the first official direct flight from Tel Aviv to Khartoum.
The normalization agreement came a year after the fall of president Omar Al-Bashir’s regime and as the transitional authorities in Khartoum drew closer to the United States.
It followed on the heels of Sudan depositing $335 million in a special account to compensate survivors and relatives of victims of the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by Al-Qaeda.
The attacks, which Bashir had welcomed, had killed more than 200 people.
After the money was deposited Trump formally moved to delist Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.