Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will send $5 million in food aid to Sudan just days after Khartoum announced the normalization of ties with the Jewish state.
"We are looking forward to a warm peace and are sending $5 million worth of wheat immediately to our new friends in Sudan," the Prime Minister's Office said in a tweet. "Israel will be working closely with the USA to assist Sudan's transition."
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Sudanese and Israeli officials are slated to meet in the coming weeks to discuss a package of cooperation deals to "achieve the mutual interests of the two peoples," Sudan's Foreign Ministry confirmed.
The ministry statement said the deals would cover agriculture, trade, aviation and migration, but did not provide details on the timing or location of the meetings.
The normalization deal came with another pledge by Trump to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The US has linked delisting Sudan to the deal to normalize ties with the Jewish state.
Both deals would open the door for Sudan to get international loans and aid. Sudan needs these to revive its battered economy and rescue its transition to democracy, following a popular uprising last year that led the military to overthrow longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan's economy has suffered from decades of US sanctions and mismanagement under Bashir. The transitional government has been struggling with a huge budget deficit and widespread shortages of essential goods, including fuel, bread and medicine. Annual inflation soared past 200% last month as prices of bread and other staples surged, according to official figures.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry said Sunday that the US would also work with its international partners to relieve the country's foreign debt, which exceeds $60 billion. Both the US and Israel would also help Sudan "consolidate its democracy, enhance food security and fight terrorism," it said.
Sudan has agreed to designate Lebanon's Hezbollah movement as a terrorist organization, something that Israel has long sought from its neighbors and others in the international community, a senior US official said last week.
Hezbollah condemned Sudan's deal with Israel in a statement Sunday, saying it was made "in return for a miserly and insignificant price," and would lead to the downfall of the transitional government.
Sudan military-civilian government 11-member body – called the Sovereign Council – is to rule Sudan for a little over three years until elections can be held has promised elections as soon as 2022. However, some factions within the political alliance supporting the government have voiced their opposition to the normalization with Israel, including Sudan's former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi who heads the country's largest political party.
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