Sudan follows the steps of the UAE, Bahrain as it normalises ties with Israel

 After a heated discussion on Wednesday and a final ultimatum by the United States, Sudan has decided to normalise its relationship with Israel. The US had reportedly issued an ultimatum of 24-hours to the North African country to make a decision on normalising ties with Israel only after which it will remove Sudan’s name from the blacklisted countries.

The US had presented Sudan with offers such as removing travel ban, making attempts towards increasing aid towards Sudan, commitment to facilitate private investment in Sudan, arranging an investment conference within the country and forgiveness of billions of dollars of Sudanese debt to the US, reports Jerusalem Post quoting a Sudanese journalist.

The deputy chairman of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo had earlier said in an interview that they are open to the proposal of normalising ties with Israel and even exploring other options with Israel.

Experts have said that it was only a matter of time that Sudan followed the path of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as these two were the first among nations in recent times to have normalised diplomatic ties with Israel in a Trump administered deal. But still, the announcement came earlier than expected because it was only September when the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said that the country does not want to link its removal from a US terrorism list even though this blacklisting hinders the economy of the crisis-struck country.

 The country being a part of the list came during the rule of Omar-al-Bashir and after removal of the ruler, the government is in a transitional phase where it needs basic help from the neighbouring nations as well as the western power such as debt relief initiatives.

 In September, members of the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Sudan issued a fatwa (religious decree) prohibiting normalization with Israel and in response to this fatwa, another fatwa was released by the head of the Fatwa Department at the Sudan Scholars Association, Sheikh Abdel-Rahman Hassan Hamed which permitted the normalisation of ties with Israel.