Dramatically improving ties with a former bitter foe, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with the transitional leader of Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, during a whirlwind visit to Uganda.
Netanyahu and Burhan met secretly in Entebbe at the residence of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and agreed to gradually normalise relations, a senior Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The meeting marks a sharp turnaround for the two countries, once sworn enemies and still technically at war. Sudan — a Muslim-Arab country in north-eastern Africa — has recently moved away from Iran’s influence over the latter’s involvement in Yemen, and ousted longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir a year ago.
Netanyahu has made expanding ties in Africa a central plank of his foreign policy.
In 2019, he re-established ties with Chad, and hinted during a visit there that he was working to establish ties with other countries, reportedly including Sudan.
Israel officials have long expressed a wish for improved ties with Khartoum, citing its importance in the region as well as its geographic location.
Sudan currently does not have a sitting president, as the country is in the middle of a transition process since longtime ruler Bashir was deposed in April 2019. In 2009, Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court for atrocities committed in Darfur.
Burhan is the chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, an 11-member group that is running the country until November 2022, when democratic elections are scheduled.
