Sudan coup leader, Gen. Burhan justifies ties with Israel

Sudan’s top general has lauded recent ties with Israel, saying that intelligence sharing between the two former adversaries helped arrest suspected militants in his country.

The two regimes normalized relations late in 2020 as part of a series of U.S.-brokered deals between Israel and four Arab countries. Israel and Sudan have since crafted security and intelligence relationships that have seen officials exchange meetings repeatedly in unannounced trips.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling Sovereign Council, said exchange of intelligence has enabled Sudan to dismantle and arrest suspected militant groups in Sudan that “could have undermined the security of Sudan and the region.”

Speaking in an an interview with Sudan’s state-run TV aired late Saturday, Burhan said it is legitimate for Sudanese security and intelligence agencies to have ties and exchange visits with Israel.

He insisted his country's relations with the usurping regime are not of a political nature, saying that no senior Sudanese official has yet made a visit to Israel. He did not elaborate.

This comes days after media reports indicated that the General himself traveled to Israel to promote bilateral ties with the regime, despite anti-Israel sentiment among the people of the African nation.

His visit also came a few weeks after an Israeli delegation visited Sudan to meet with Sudan's military chief and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.