CAIRO (AP) – Sudan said on Wednesday that it had signed the “Abraham Accords” with the US, paving the way for the country in Africa to normalize ties with Israel.
According to a statement from the office of the Sudanese Prime Minister, Nasredeen Abdulbari, Minister of Justice, on Wednesday signed the agreement with the visiting US Secretary of Finance, Steven Mnuchin.
The recent negotiations between the Arab countries and Israel, which were negotiated by the United States, were a major achievement in foreign policy by President Donald Trump’s government. The similarities were named the ‘Abraham Chords’ after the biblical patriarch who was revered by Muslims and Jews.
The signing took place just over two months after Trump announced that Sudan would begin normalizing ties with Israel.
Before Sudan, the Trump administration set up diplomatic suspects between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain late last year – the first since Jordan recognized Israel in the 1990s and Egypt in the 1970s. Morocco has also established diplomatic ties with Israel.
The similarities are all with countries that are geographically far from Israel and have played a small role, if any, in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The agreements also contributed to the serious isolation and weakening of the Palestinians by defending a long-standing Arab consensus that recognition of Israel should only be given in exchange for concessions in the peace process.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. The following is AP’s previous story.
The US and Sudan on Wednesday agreed to settle the African country’s debt to the World Bank, which is widely seen as an important step towards the country’s economic recovery following the overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The move came during Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin’s visit to Khartoum, which made him the first senior US official to land there since President Donald Trump’s government removed African country from the list of state sponsors for terrorism. has.
Mnuchin arrived at Khartoum International Airport, where he was received by Acting Finance Minister Heba Mohammed Ali and the US prosecutor in Sudan, Brian Shukan, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. said.
This is the first visit by a sitting US Treasury chief to Sudan, the statement said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in August became the first U.S. diplomat to visit Sudan since 2005, when Condoleezza visited Rice. Pompeo has also been the most senior US official to visit the African country since last year’s ouster of al-Bashir.
Mnuchin’s visit came after a one-day visit to Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a close ally of the United States. The stopovers are part of a spate of activities during the last days of the Trump administration. Democrat Joe Biden will become president on January 20.
The US Treasury Secretary has met with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and is expected to meet with other Sudanese leaders, including Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council.
The visit came at a time when our bilateral relations are taking historic leaps in the direction of a better future. We plan to make tangible progress today as our relationships enter a #NewEra, ‘Hamdok tweeted.
Mnuchin’s one – day visit focused on the country’s struggling economy and possible US aid, including debt relief, the statement said. Sudan today has more than $ 60 billion in foreign debt. Debt relief and access to foreign loans are widely seen as the gateway to economic recovery.
The Sudanese Ministry of Finance said it was coloring in a “memorandum of understanding” with the US Treasury Department to facilitate the payment of arrears of debt to Sudan at the World Bank.
The ministry said the settlement would allow the Sudanese government to have more than $ 1 billion annually from the World Bank, for the first time in almost three decades when Sudan was declared a pariah state. It did not provide further details.
However, the Ministry of Justice announced last month that the US would provide a $ 1 billion bridge loan to the World Bank to help Sudan’s arrears with the institution, in addition to direct and indirect US $ 1.1 billion in aid.
Sudan is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular uprising led the army to overthrow al-Bashir in April 2019. The province is now ruled by a joint military and civilian government that has better ties with Washington and the West. wants to practice.
The government is struggling with a large budget deficit and the large shortage of essential goods, including fuel, bread and medicine.
According to official figures, annual inflation has risen by 200% in recent months as the prices of bread and other staples have risen.
Last month, the Trump administration finalized the removal of Sudan from the US list of state sponsors for terrorism. The move was a major impetus for the Khartoum government to normalize relations with Israel.
The two countries, Sudan and Israel, have agreed to have full diplomatic ties, which makes Sudan the third Arab state – after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – to normalize relations with Israel at the end of last year. Morocco has also established diplomatic ties with Israel.
The Sudanese economy has suffered from decades of US sanctions and mismanagement under Al-Bashir, who has ruled the country since a 1989 military coup by Islamic State.
The name dates back to the 1990s, when Sudan briefly housed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, and other prominent militants. Sudan would also have been believed as a pipeline for Iran to supply weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Mnuchin’s visit comes amid growing tensions between military and civilian members of Sudan’s transitional government. The tension, which has resurfaced in recent weeks, has largely focused on the economic assets of the Sudanese army, over which the civilian finance ministry has no control.
John Prendergast, co-founder of watchdog group The Sentry, called on the U.S. Treasury Secretary to put pressure on the military and security apparatus to allow “independent oversight” to businesses they control.
“As Secretary Mnuchin is involved in the leadership in Khartoum, it is critical that he weighs strongly in support of international standards for money laundering and fiscal transparency, which are essential for Sudan to counter the looting of its national economy,” he said. he said.