US Pressured Sudan To Normalize with ‘Israel’ - Minister

By Press TV

US President Donald Trump placed Sudan under “heavy pressure” to normalize relations with the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime and sought to use the normalization deal as a card in his favor during the US presidential election on November 3, a Sudanese government minister has told Press TV.

Sudan’s Minister of Information Faisal Mohamed Saleh made the revelation in an exclusive interview with Press TV.

Trump announced at the White House in October that Sudan and the Zionist entity had agreed to normalize relations. Sudan thus became the third Arab country — after the United Arab Emirates [UAE] and Bahrain — to agree to a normalization deal with the occupation entity since August.

Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister Omar Gamareldin has said the accord would depend on approval from its yet-to-be formed legislative council under a power-sharing deal between the country’s military and civilian leaders.

The US has promised to remove Sudan from Washington’s list of so-called state sponsors of terrorism [SST]. That has widely been seen as the sole incentive for Sudan’s normalization with the Zionist entity.

“In the last few months, the question of normalization with ‘Israel’ was raised and that was not raised only with Sudan, as you may see, with Emirates, Bahrain, and other countries. And we insisted on two things, the separation of the two issues. We used to say to them, and that was said to US Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo when he came to Sudan, that these are two separate issues, delisting Sudan from SST, [which] we are negotiating on that for 17 or 18 months, and normalization with ‘Israel,’ that is a very controversial issue,” Saleh told Press TV on Monday.

“Our response to him [Trump] was that we are a transitional government and this issue is not one of our mandate… This should be left to an elected government to discuss… Then, the American pressure on Sudan started…,” the Sudanese minister said.

“He [Trump] used to raise the issues until maybe the last two weeks before the American election, and I think Sudan was used as a card in the election,” he added.

Trump had been attempting to use the normalization deals as foreign policy achievements in the run-up to the November election. Both ‘Israeli’ and US officials had repeatedly hinted since August that other Arab countries would follow suit.

Trump, however, was declared the loser of the presidential election.

The Sudanese minister went on to say that, “Trump wanted to have some cards in his favor. Part of it was convincing some Arab countries to normalize relationship with ‘Israel.’ So, it was linked directly, Sudan was put under very heavy pressure.”

“It was said clearly this is linked, [that] ‘if you want Sudan to be delisted from the SST, then you have to normalize relationship with ‘Israel.’’ It was a very difficult situation,” he added.