CAIRO (AP) – Sudan said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement with the United States to pave the way for the moneyless African nation to normalize relations with Israel and eliminate some of its massive debt to the World Bank.
Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari has signed an agreement with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to the prime minister’s office.
“This is a very, very significant agreement. It would have a tremendous impact on the people of Israel and the people of Sudan, as they continue to work together on cultural and economic opportunities and trade,” Mnuchin said in comments to the state. run the SUNA news agency.
Abdulbari said that Sudan welcomed “the rapprochement that has taken place between Israel and the countries in the region, as well as the beginning of diplomatic relations, which we will work on as our part in the near future to strengthen and expand them the interest of other countries in the region. “
Also during Mnuchin’s visit, the United States and Sudan signed a “memorandum of understanding” to facilitate the payment of the African country’s debt to the World Bank, the finance ministry said, a move that is widely seen as a key step toward recovery. economic development of Khartoum.
The ministry said the settlement would allow Sudan to receive more than $ 1 billion annually from the World Bank for the first time in nearly three decades, when the country was designated a pariah state.
Sudan has over $ 60 billion in foreign debt.
On October 23, President Donald Trump announced Sudan it would become the third Arab state to normalize ties with Israel as part of a US-brokered agreement, known as the “Abraham Accords,” after the biblical patriarch revered by Muslims and Jews.
This followed the North African nation agreeing to put $ 335 million into an escrow account to compensate US victims of terrorist attacks. These include the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by the al-Qaeda network while its leader, Osama bin Laden, lived in Sudan. The country was also believed to have served as a conduit for Iran to supply weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Instead, Trump notified Congress of his intention to remove Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, a key incentive for the deal.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on Wednesday.
The Trump administration last year announced diplomatic pacts between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – the first since Jordan recognized Israel in the 1990s and Egypt in the 1970s. Morocco has also established diplomatic ties with Israel. The agreements are all with countries that are geographically distant from Israel and that have played a minor role, if any, in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The agreements have contributed to the severe isolation and weakening of the Palestinians by eroding a long-standing Arab consensus that recognition of Israel should be granted only in exchange for concessions in the peace process.
Although Sudan is not a regional power, establishing ties with Israel is deeply symbolic. Sudan hosted the 1967 Khartoum summit, in which Arab countries vowed not to make peace with Israel and, more recently, had close ties to Israeli enemies such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Sudan is on a fragile path to democracy after a popular uprising led the army to overthrow autocrat Omar al-Bashir long ago in April 2019. The county is now ruled by a joint military and civilian government seeking better ties with Washington and West.
During his visit, Mnuchin met with General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the sovereign governing council, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
It is the first visit of a US Treasury chief to Sudan, the statement said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo In August, she became the first top American diplomat to visit Sudan in 2005, when she was visited by Condoleezza Rice.
The visit came “at a time when our bilateral relations are making historic leaps into a better future. We plan to make tangible progress today as our relationships enter a #NewEra, “Hamdok wrote on Twitter.
The Justice Ministry said last month that the United States would lend $ 1 billion to the World Bank on behalf of Sudan, in addition to $ 1.1 billion in direct and indirect US aid.
Since al-Bashir’s ouster, Sudan has been ruled by a joint military and civilian government seeking better ties with the West. It faced a huge budget deficit and a widespread shortage of essential goods, including fuel, bread and medicine.
Annual inflation has risen by 200% in recent months, as prices for bread and other commodities have risen, according to official figures.
Mnuchin’s visit came amid rising tensions between military and civilian members of Sudan’s transitional government. Those tensions, which have resurfaced in recent weeks, have largely focused on the army’s economic assets, over which the civilian-led Ministry of Finance has no control.
John Prendergast, co-founder of The Sentry, said Mnuchin should put pressure on the military and security apparatus to allow “independent oversight” of the companies he controls.
“As Secretary Mnuchin engages with the Khartoum leadership, it is essential that he have strong support for international anti-money laundering and fiscal transparency standards, which are essential for Sudan to counter the looting of its national economy.” he said.
Mnuchin flew to Sudan from Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a close ally of the United States. The shutdowns are part of an explosion of activity in the last days of the Trump administration.
Mnuchin later wrote on Twitter that he was heading to Israel “for important meetings.”
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Associated Press writer Joe Federman of Jerusalem contributed.