Sudan and the United States have signed the “Abraham Accords” in a move that will lead to the normalization of ties with Israel amid opposition at home. The country’s political parties denounced the move when it was first announced in October last year.
A statement was issued from the office of Sudan’s prime minister on Wednesday said Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the accord with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The North African country’s Acting Minister of Finance Hiba Ahmed and Mnuchin also “signed a memorandum of understanding the country’s capital Khartoum to provide a same-day bridge financing facility to clear Sudan’s arrears to the World Bank.
Her office said in a statement that “The move will enable the country to regain access to over $1 billion in annual financing from the global lending body for the first time in 27 years.
The US embassy in Khartoum stated the agreement would “help Sudan on its path to stability, security, and economic opportunity”.
The agreement came just over two months after President Donald Trump revealed that the crisis-ridden country would start to normalize relations with Israel.
The political parties in Sudan rejected the government’s decision to normalize ties with Israel at the time it was announced in October. An opposition front against the agreement is imminent, according to the officials.
In a statement, Sudan’s Popular Congress Party said in October that the people of the country were not obligated to own the normalization deal.
Sudan’s former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi also denounced the announcement, adding that he left a government-organized conference at the time in protest.
In 2020, the Trump administration facilitated diplomatic pacts between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. It was the first time an Islamic country entered into agreements with Israel since Jordan recognized Israel in the 1990s and Egypt in the 1970s. Later, Morocco also established diplomatic relations with Israel.
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The pacts are all with Muslim states that are geographically distant from the Jewish state and have played a little role, if any, in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The recent diplomatic accords have also contributed to the increased isolation and exacerbating of the Palestinians by eroding a long-held Arab consensus that recognition of the Jewish country should only be given in exchange for concessions in the peace process.
