India on Monday welcomed the removal of Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism and the country’s normalisation of relations with Israel.
The external affairs ministry said in a statement that India’s relations with Sudan are “historic and special, and forged on the basis of shared values and close people-to-people contacts”.
Last month, Sudan became the third Arab state to normalise relations with Israel, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The move came days after the outgoing Trump administration removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, in which the country was included in 1993.
“We welcome the removal of Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and Sudan’s normalisation of relations with Israel,” the external affairs ministry’s statement said.
“We congratulate the transitional government and the people of Sudan on the signing of the Juba Peace Agreement, and hope that these positive developments will usher in democratic changes and contribute to enhancing Sudan’s development, peace, security and stability,” it added.
President Donald Trump had announced that Sudan was being removed from the terror list in exchange for the payment of $335 million as compensation for the victims of terror attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in 1998 and on the warship USS Cole in 2000. However, the delisting requires the approval of the US Congress.
The US, Sudan and Israel also released a joint statement announcing the normalisation of relations.
The agreement for normalising relations with Israel also needs to be approved by Sudan’s yet-to-be formed legislative council. This council needs to be created under a power-sharing deal between military officers and civilians who have been running Sudan since the overthrow of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The US administration’s push for normalising ties between Israel and Arab states was part of a strategy to ensure the re-election of Trump. However, Trump has been defeated in the presidential election by Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
