Sudan said on Wednesday it has signed the Abraham Accords with the U.S., paving the way for an African country to normalize ties with Israel.
The recent negotiations with the US between Arab countries and Israel have been a major achievement of foreign policy by President Donald Trump’s administration. The treaties were named the Abraham Accords after the biblical patriarch published by Muslims and suspects.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, right, welcomes U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to the Cabinet Building in Khartoum, Jan. 6, 2021
(Photo: AP)
A statement from Sudan’s prime minister’s office said Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the deal on Wednesday with a visit to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The signing came just over two months after Trump announced that Sudan would begin to normalize ties with Israel.
Last month, the Trump administration ended the removal of Sudan from the U.S. list of terrorist state supporters, a key impetus for Khartoum to sign an agreement with Israel.
Before Sudan, the Trump administration negotiated diplomatic treaties late last year between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – the first since Jordan recognized Israel in the 1990s and Egypt in the 1970s. Morocco established diplomatic ties with Israel last month.
LR: Bahrain FM Abdullatif al-Zayani, PM Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, and Emirati FM Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan at the signing of the Abrahamic Treaties at the White House, Sept. 2020
(Photo: AFP)
All agreements are with countries that are far removed from Israel and have played a small, if any, role in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The boxes have also contributed to the extreme loneliness and weakening of the Palestinians by eroding a long-standing Arab alliance that Israel should be recognized only for delays in the peace process.
The U.S. and Sudan also agreed on Wednesday to settle Africans’ national debt to the World Bank, which is widely seen as a key step towards the country’s economic recovery following the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir .
The move came when Mnuchin visited Khartoum, leaving him as the first top American official to land there since the Trump administration removed an African country from a list of terrorist state supporters.
Mnuchin visited after a one-day visit to Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who was close to the US. The stops are part of a full-blown activity of the last days of the Trump administration. Democrat Joe Biden is to become president on Jan. 20.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, left, crushing angles with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at the Cabinet Building in Khartoum, Jan. 6, 2021
(Photo: AP)
The U.S. finance secretary met with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, and was expected to meet with other Sudanese leaders including Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, leader of the sovereign sovereign council.
The journey came “at a time when our bilateral relations are making historic leaps towards a better future. We intend to take positive steps today as our relations continue to falter. into #NewEra, “tweeted Hamdok.
Mnuchin’s one-day visit focused on the country’s troubled economy and potential U.S. economic support, including debt relief, the statement said. Today Sudan has more than $ 60 billion in foreign debt. Relief from arrears and access to foreign loans is widely seen as its path to economic recovery.
Sudan’s Ministry of Finance said it had submitted a “memorandum of understanding” with the U.S. treasury department to pay the country’s arrears to the World Bank.