ADDIS ABABA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2020) A decision to normalize relations with Israel is too important to be made unilaterally, so it is up to the future Sudanese parliament to determine whether to pursue this objective, the Sudanese government spokesman, Faisal Mohamed Saleh, told Sputnik.
Sudan, an Arab country, has no diplomatic relations with Israel. In early February, however, Sudan's Sovereign Council chairman, Abdel Fattah Burhan, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda. The transitional government said that it had learned about the talks from the media and demanded an explanation from Burhan. The latter said that the meeting had been held as part of the efforts to ensure Sudan's national security and denied that any normalization of ties had been raised.
"The issue concerning Burhan's meeting with Netanyahu has now been settled ... We agreed that we as the transitional government cannot make such an important decision [as the normalization of relations with Israel] because we do not have a parliament. Once it appears and wants to discuss relations with Israel, it will be free to discuss it," Saleh, who is also the culture and information minister, said.
According to the minister, the government and the Sovereign Council have agreed to clearly separate their powers and determined that international relations were the former's prerogative. Important foreign policy decisions, however, will be subject to joint discussions, the minister added.
In August, Sudan's Transitional Military Council, which came to power after then-President Omar Bashir was overthrown in April, transferred power to the Sovereign Council, the newly-established collective head of state. The latter appointed Abdalla Hamdok as the head of the transitional government.
