From xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Subject Why Trump Wants Sudan to Befriend Israel - Two Articles
Date October 26, 2020 5:25 AM
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[With Sudan in desperate straits - a collapsing economy,
hyperinflation looming and a nationwide food crisis - the
administration of US President Donald Trump and the Israeli government
have seen an opportunity. Palestinians call it a new stab in back]
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WHY TRUMP WANTS SUDAN TO BEFRIEND ISRAEL - TWO ARTICLES  
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Alex de Waal (BBC), Jason Burke and Oliver Holmes (The Guardian)
October 23, 2020
BBC and The Guardian

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_ With Sudan in desperate straits - a collapsing economy,
hyperinflation looming and a nationwide food crisis - the
administration of US President Donald Trump and the Israeli government
have seen an opportunity. Palestinians call it a new stab in back _

, Getty Images

 

SUDAN AND ISRAEL AGREE US - BROKERED DEAL ON NORMALISING RELATIONS
Jason Burke and Oliver Holmes
The Guardian
October 23, 2020
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Donald Trump on a phone call with the leaders of Sudan and Israel.
Behind him are Mike Pompeo, Jared Kushner and the national security
adviser, Robert O’Brien. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Israel and Sudan have agreed to work towards normalising relations in
a deal brokered by the US that would make Sudan the third Arab country
to set aside hostilities with Israel
[[link removed]] in the past two months.

Donald Trump sealed the agreement in a phone call on Friday with the
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
[[link removed]], his Sudanese
counterpart, Abdalla Hamdok, and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of
Sudan’s sovereign council.

“The leaders agreed to the normalisation of relations between Sudan
[[link removed]] and Israel and to end the
state of belligerence between their nations,” a joint statement by
the three countries said.

However, it was not immediately clear whether Sudan’s transitional
government has the authority to strike such a deal. The country
remains without a parliament and elections are due in 2022.

Trump sought to score domestic political points over Joe Biden, his
challenger in next month’s US presidential election, asking
Netanyahu:“Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal?”

Netanyahu responded: “Uh … one thing I can tell you is, we
appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America.”

Trump, seeking to appeal to pro-Israel voters, has pushed countries in
the Arab world to normalise relations with the Jewish state. Last
month the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain
[[link removed]] agreed
to establish ties with Israel under US-mediated deals, despite
protests from the Palestinian leadership.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior Palestinian Liberation Organisation
official, described Sudan’s decision as a “new stab in the
back”.

Though Khartoum has been largely marginal to Middle Eastern politics
in recent decades, the normalisation has significant symbolic value.
After the 1967 war, Arab powers met in Khartoum to pledge three
“noes”: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no
negotiations with Israel.

Netanyahu said Sudan was now saying the opposite. “Yes to peace with
Israel, yes to the recognition of Israel, and yes to normalisation
with Israel. This is a new era.”

Khartoum’s fragile transitional government had come under heavy
pressure from Washington, which offered incentives, including help to
access billions of dollars of desperately needed financial assistance
from multilateral organisations.

As part of the agreement, Trump took steps to remove Sudan
[[link removed]] from
a US government list of countries accused of promoting terrorism.

In a statement, the White House said Sudan and Israel had agreed to
end the state of belligerence between their nations
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and to begin economic and trade relations, with an initial focus on
agriculture.

“This is obviously a great breakthrough,” Trump’s son-in-law and
adviser, Jared Kushner, told Reuters. “Getting peace agreements done
are not as easy as we are making them look right now. They are very
hard to do.”

The announcement came after sunset in Israel and during Shabbat, the
Jewish holy day of rest, when the country largely closes down, meaning
there was little immediate response from politicians or the public.

While Sudan has far from fully committed to the deal, it will be seen
in Israel as a major step forward. Unlike the UAE and Bahrain, which
have never fought with the Jewish state, Sudan sent forces to fight in
the war around Israel’s creation in 1948 and during the six-day war
of 1967. In the 1970s, Israel backed Sudanese insurgents fighting the
Khartoum government.

Raphael Ahren, a journalist for the Times of Israel newspaper, wrote
[[link removed]] earlier
on Friday that peace with Sudan would be a “whole new ball game”
in comparison with the UAE and Bahrain deals. “For one, a warm yes
from the capital known for the ‘three noes’ would likely have a
tremendous psychological impact on Israelis. ‘Those who used to
reject us so bitterly have finally embraced us,’ many might
reasonably say.”

However, resistance in Sudan is likely to be significant. Hamdok said
last month
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he had told the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, he would not link
his country’s removal from the terrorism list with normalisation of
relations with Israel.

A Sudanese protest against an Israeli military offensive on the Gaza
Strip in 2014. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

Before his fall in 2019, the authoritarian ruler Omar al-Bashir had
shifted from a de facto alliance with Iran to closer relations with
Saudi Arabia, and there have been contacts between the intelligence
services of Israel and Sudan in recent years.

Burhan, the most senior figure under the country’s power-sharing
arrangement, held an unannounced meeting with Netanyahu in Uganda this
year. Netanyahu later said the two governments were “establishing
cooperative relations”, and Sudan has agreed to allow flights to
Israel to fly over its territory.

The military leaders in the mixed transitional government appear to
have been more enthusiastic about the normalisation of ties with
Israel than the civilian leaders, who fear that the legitimacy of the
new administration may be undermined by the move.

But the deal is a testament to the influence still wielded by the US
in east Africa. Washington has moved to incrementally restore
relations with Sudan
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recent years, but has insisted that outstanding legal claims are
settled before the country is struck from its list of state sponsors
of terrorism.

Sudan has agreed to pay $335m in compensation to victims of the
al-Qaida bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. A US
court decided that the Bashir regime had provided crucial assistance
to Osama bin Laden’s group and was therefore partially responsible
for the attacks.

Earlier on Friday, Trump told Congress he would formally strike Sudan
from the terrorism list. Congress will have to approve the
president’s decision.

The designation as a state sponsor of terrorism has denied Sudan
access to debt relief and foreign financing. Meanwhile, the
country’s economy has been crippled by decades of Bashir’s
misrule, continuing internal conflict, recent political upheaval and
the Covid-19 pandemic
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Millions of people are facing hardship as food and fuel prices have
soared
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In a tweet earlier on Friday, Hamdok thanked Trump for signing the
executive order to remove Sudan from the list. “We’re working
closely with the US administration and Congress to conclude the …
removal process in a timely manner. We work towards international
relations that best serve our people” the tweet read
[[link removed]].

• This article was amended on 24 October 2020. The original
incorrectly said Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was the head of Sudan’s
transitional military council. This was disbanded in 2019; the body
Burhan now leads is the sovereign council.

JASON BURKE is the Africa  correspondent of the Guardian, based
in Johannesburg, and reporting from across the continent. In 20 years
as a foreign correspondent, he has covered stories throughout the
Middle East, Europe and South Asia. He has written extensively on
Islamic extremism and, among numerous other conflicts, covered the
wars of 2001 in Afghanistan and 2003 in Iraq. Jason is the author of
four books, most recently The New Threat
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OLIVER HOLMES is the Jerusalem correspondent for the Guardian.
Previously based in Bangkok, he has reported across the Middle East
and Asia. Twitter @olireports
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WHY TRUMP WANTS SUDAN TO BEFRIEND ISRAEL
By Alex De Waal
BBC
October 8, 2020
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The country's democratic hopes hang by a thread 18 months after
non-violent protests overthrew their long-term ruler Omar al-Bashir.

But if Sudan recognises Israel then the US will strike it off the
state sponsors of terror list, opening the door to essential economic
stabilisation measures.

After seizing power in a military coup in 1989, President Bashir
turned Khartoum into a global centre for militant jihadism" Getty

[1px transparent line]

It is a complicated story which dates back 30 years to the early days
of Sudan's Islamist government.

After seizing power in a military coup in 1989, President Bashir
turned Khartoum into a global centre for militant jihadism.

Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups used Sudan as the base for
carrying out terror attacks in the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia,
Uganda, Kenya and elsewhere.

After the first terror attack on New York's World Trade Center in
1993, the US designated Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.

CIA co-operation

International financial sanctions and military pressure from
neighbouring countries which supported Sudanese rebels pushed Sudan to
expel Osama bin Laden and other jihadists three years later.

Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks, Sudan's security services
became a valued partner with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

On that basis, Sudan should have been removed from the state sponsors
of terror list.

Despite the celebrations following Sudan's transition to democracy
last year, US sanctions have not been lifted. AFP

But members of Congress were hostile to Khartoum for a host of other
reasons, including the war in Darfur and human rights abuses, and the
listing stayed in place.

And the Bashir government still operated in the shadows: it kept open
its links to Iran and Hamas, and on at least two occasions Israeli
fighter planes attacked convoys travelling up Sudan's Red Sea coast,
allegedly taking arms to Hamas.

In 2016, under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates, the Bashir government cut its ties with Iran.

Yet after the democratic revolution last year, Washington DC was slow
to shift.

US State Department officials wanted to keep the leverage of one of
their most powerful tools. And they were worried that the new
democratic regime might not last long.

Senators block terror list removal

The problem was that keeping sanctions on Sudan could easily become a
self-fulfilling prophecy, condemning the country to state failure.

As long as Sudan stays blacklisted, crippling financial sanctions stay
in place. Legitimate Sudanese businesses are handicapped, foreign
direct investment is shackled and the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank cannot adopt a package to relieve its massive debt - $72bn
(£55.6bn) and counting.

More than 860,000 people have been affected by unprecedented flooding
in Sudan this year EPA

More than 860,000 people have been affected by unprecedented flooding
in Sudan this year

The scale of hunger today is terrifying: the UN classes 9.6 million
people as "severely food insecure"
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This is made worse by the Covid-19 shutdown and floods. It is a crisis
that cannot be overcome by food handouts - it needs a massive
injection of economic assistance.

Over recent months, a deal to remove the terror listing was slowly
making its way through Congress, held up by demands from the relatives
of victims of al-Qaeda attacks in East Africa and Yemen that
compensation be paid.

Sudan agreed to a package of $335m. But in September two Democratic
senators - Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez blocked the measure, partly
because they wanted to keep open the prospects of the relatives of
victims of 9/11 mounting a case.

The Trump administration is offering Sudan a way out.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went to Khartoum in August to offer
Sudan's PM Hamdok a deal GETTY IMAGES

Visiting Khartoum at the end of August, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
proposed a deal to Sudan's civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok: if
Sudan recognised Israel, President Trump would circumvent the
Congressional blockage.

Following the UAE's decision last month
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member of the Arab League, would be only the fifth Arab state to do
so.

This would be a huge boost to the administration's campaign to
normalise Arab relations with Israel in the weeks before the election.

Recognising Israel would be a momentous step for Sudan - that indeed
is the whole point.

Good deal for the generals

The most vociferous opponents of the move are the Islamists, now out
of power. But it is controversial across the political spectrum, and
the civilian coalition includes many who insist on peace with the
Palestinians first.

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You may also be interested in:

* The country where black people are called slaves
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* How Sudan's rebel deal offers lifeline for peace
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* The warlord who may control Sudan’s future
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* Flooding threatens Sudan's ancient pyramids
[[link removed]]

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Mr Hamdok knows that his coalition of civilian supporters would likely
fracture if he made the decision.

He told Mr Pompeo that a decision on the issue should await a
democratically elected government, due in three years' time.

Although Mr Hamdok and his civilian cabinet are in office, it is
Sudan's generals who wield real power.

Backed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the chairman of the
transitional council, Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Lt
Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, known as "Hemeti", command troops and
money.

Sudan's Gen Burhan (R), who leads the transitional council, is among
the officers who wield the real power in Sudan GETTY IMAGES

And it is these generals who are dealing with Israel. Gen Burhan met
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February - without
informing Mr Hamdok - and the two are due to meet again soon.

For Gen Burhan and Gen Hemeti, the US-Israel deal promises them the
international recognition they crave without the inconvenience of
democracy.

That is why Sudanese democrats are demanding that it be scrutinised
carefully.

When popular protests forced Bashir out in April last year, Gen Burhan
and Gen Hemeti took over. Two months later their troops killed over
100 protesters.

This caused an outcry, after which, in a deal brokered by the US, UK,
Saudi Arabia and the UAE, they agreed to share power with a civilian
cabinet.

'Separate issues'

The bottom line is that the military tolerate the civilians only
because they need international respectability. The Sudanese public
has not forgiven the generals for their brutality and venality.

The older generation remembers Operation Moses, the secret 1984 deal
between then-President Jaafar Nimeiri to allow Israel to airlift
Ethiopian Jews from refugee camps in Sudan. Nimeiri was later accused
of pocketing millions of dollars in bribes from Mossad, Israel's
secret service.

A cabal of officer-businessmen controls vast shadowy commercial
empires built up under Bashir, which are getting stronger by the day.

When the central bank runs out of money to pay salaries, it goes
begging to these generals for the cash. If they are rewarded, Sudan
will remain a kleptocracy.

For Israelis, recognition by another Arab country is certainly a
prize.

But for the young Israelis and their US counterparts who protested
against the mass atrocities in Darfur 15 years ago, legitimising the
men who commanded the militias that perpetrated those massacres is a
morally dubious step.

Mr Hamdok's position is the logical one: lifting the terror
blacklisting and recognising Israel are separate issues.

He argues that Sudan should be removed from the terror list at once,
because it has removed terrorists from its soil and because its
democracy is worth saving.

And if Israel is recognised by a truly democratic Arab nation - that
would be a prize worth winning.

_Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation
at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the
US._

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