UAE ally in Sudan meets with Israeli Prime Minister
At the invitation of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the Prime Minister of Benjamin Netanyahu met today with General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council.
Al-Burhan is the ally of the UAE in Sudan, where Abu Dhabi was the first country to recognize the military council that was formed under Al-Burhan’s leadership after the overthrow of former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir last year.
Israeli sources said that it was agreed between Netanyahu and the proof of the start of joint cooperation, which would lead to the normalization of relations between the two countries.
And identical Israeli-Sudanese media sources revealed that Lieutenant-General Al-Burhan left for the Ugandan capital Kampala on an unannounced one-day visit. Sources said that the proof will meet the Ugandan president and discuss a number of files with him.
Al-Burhan’s visit to Kampala coincided with Netanyahu’s arrival in Uganda to hold a meeting with its President, Yuri Museveni, on a visit aimed at strengthening relations with the east African country.
Before leaving for Uganda, Netanyahu said, “I hope that at the end of the day we will have very good news for the State of Israel.”
“Israel returns to Africa in a big way, and Africa has already returned to Israel… These are very important links in the political, economic and security fields, and more will be reported on that,” Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu visited Uganda the last time in July 2016 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the process of liberating the Israeli hostages from the plane passengers hijacked by Palestinians at Entebbe airport, in which his brother Yonatan was killed.
Prior to his departure from Israel, Netanyahu said that he aims to “strengthen relations” with Uganda and hopes to “bring very good news to the State of Israel” from the visit.
In recent years, Israel has strengthened its relations with African countries, and with the development of Israeli expertise in military and agricultural technology, trade opportunities with Africa have increased.
Israel currently maintains diplomatic relations with 39 of the 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the most prominent donors to Sudan, and they deposited $500 million in principle in the central bank since Bashir was ousted, as part of a $3 billion aid package to maintain their influence in this Arab African country.
On April 12, Al-Burhan assumed his position as Speaker of the Majlis Al-Bashir, who ousted Al-Bashir after the team relinquished its first seat, Awad Ibn Auf.
Sudanese media and analysts indicate that Al-Burhan undertook the process of coordinating the dispatch of Sudanese soldiers to Yemen within the framework of the Saudi-Emirati coalition against the Iranian-backed Houthis.
And two days ago, the Israeli television channel “13” revealed that the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed offered to arrange a meeting between Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa during his visit to Tel Aviv in the beginning of last September.
The Hebrew Channel showed an interview with Abi Ahmed, in which he said that he had informed Netanyahu of his close friendship with bin Zayed, and could make efforts to arrange a meeting between them in Addis Ababa.
Ahmed said, according to “13”, “when I met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we talked about a lot of issues and files, and we came to mention the Emirates, then I suggested to him to mediate between him and the Emirati Crown Prince,” which the political commentator for the channel, Barak Rafid, described. As “the actual ruler of the state.”
The presentation of Ahmed’s interview came within the framework of a series of episodes prepared by Rafid on secret relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, and will be broadcast on Sunday evening.
And Rafid pledged that the episodes would reveal issues related to the network of secret relations between Israel and the Gulf states, and specifically the role that Netanyahu plays in this.
The Center for the Study of Foreign Policy and Regional Relations of Israel (Mitvim) had confirmed, last week, that the UAE was the most Arab country that expanded cooperation with Israel last year.
In appreciating the position prepared by the researcher, Moran Zaga, the center pointed to the existence of general features and features of the nature of cooperation and relations between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, which now include the areas: official diplomacy, security cooperation and communication in the field of tourism and “religions”.
The Center pointed out that “the year 2019 witnessed, in particular, an increase in cooperation in the civil fields, in a manner that indicates a great rapprochement between the two leaderships, in a way that indicates the availability of an environment that allows these relations to continue in the future and their development.”
The Center stressed that what indicates the growing relations between the UAE and Israel and its coverage of civil areas, the fact that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tel Aviv is playing an important role in developing these relations.
The Center pointed out that “cooperation with the UAE has grown especially in the field of initiatives related to religions and the spread of ideas of tolerance,” especially with the declaration of the UAE in 2019 as “a year for tolerance.”
In this context, the UAE organized a conference in which a number of rabbis participated, including the former chief rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Ammar.
He pointed out that Israel is expected to participate in the “International Expo 2020” in Dubai next October, which is the most important event in the relationship between the UAE and Israel, considering that this development will allow to devote cooperation in the diplomatic, economic and civil fields.
He stated that it is expected that a branch of Israel will be opened during the exhibition, which will remain open for half a year to showcase Israeli inventions.
