Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen confirmed on Thursday evening that Israel and Sudan “agreed” to work towards “signing a peace treaty” following his return from an official visit to Khartoum, Israel’s first foreign minister.
Signature after the formation of the civil government
“I am happy to inform you that as part of the visit, we agreed to sign a peace treaty between Sudan and Israel,” Cohen told reporters upon returning to Tel Aviv airport after a civilian government was formed in Khartoum.
“The peace agreement will open up an opportunity for Sudan to establish a strong relationship with the United States,” the Israeli official added.
For its part, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry announced that it intends to proceed with the full normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel following a visit by the Israeli Foreign Minister earlier Thursday to the Sudanese capital.
During his one-day visit to Khartoum, Eli Cohen met with a number of Sudanese politicians, including the head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, according to the Sudanese government news agency (SUNA).
“Move forward towards the normalization of relations”
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement released after Cohen’s departure that it had been decided to move forward towards normalizing relations.
Sudan signed a normalization agreement with Israel in 2020 and joined Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE in agreements brokered by the United States to establish full diplomatic relations. But normalization stopped with Khartoum.
“in preparation”
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that “something is in the works” before he leaves for France on Thursday morning.
“We continue to expand the circle of peace,” he added, noting that Chad, which borders Sudan, opened a new embassy in Israel on Thursday.
Netanyahu, who returned to power last December, also said: “We will continue to expand and deepen the circle of peace with other countries near and far.”
