Sudanese envoy secretly visits Israel in effort to put Abraham Accords back on track – report

A Sudanese envoy secretly traveled to Israel last week to discuss putting the aborted Abraham Accords back on track, after Sudan's military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, recaptured the capital Khartoum some two years after his Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) fled from there.

According to Sudanese news outlet Al-Rakoba, al-Burhan’s advisor Lt.-Gen. al-Sadiq Ismail traveled to Israel to resume talks about implementing the peace agreement between the two countries, in exchange for Israeli support.

Al-Sadiq was said to have asked for Israeli assistance in improving relations with the Trump administration, as well as with the United Arab Emirates, which is supporting al-Burhan’s rival, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti).

The report added that al-Burhan was ready to meet any Israeli conditions to quickly implement the normalization.

Sudan was part of the historic Abraham Accords declaration in 2020. However, unlike the other three partners in the agreement, Sudan never fully implemented the normalization process.

The talks with Israel were stalled when the Sudanese military, led by General al-Burhan, overthrew the Sudanese government in October 2021. Negotiations then resumed for a short period before being stopped again when the civil war between al-Burhan and Hemedti erupted.

Al-Burhan’s envoy also sought to quash Israeli concerns over the recently improved relations with Iran.

The Sudanese envoy argued that the ties were a result of military pressure and that al-Burhan had no choice but to buy weapons from Iran due to his international isolation.

He also expressed frustration that Israel had not sold him any weapons in the past years, which could have contributed to “achieving a real breakthrough in relations between the two countries and changing the opinion of many Sudanese toward Israel.”

A source close to al-Burhan recently told Kan News that “Sudan is forced to cooperate with any party interested in supplying it with weapons. There is currently a great opportunity for anyone who wants to help Sudan, publicly and secretly.”

“For the sake of Sudan’s interests, we would even make a deal with the devil,” the source added.

The connection between Sudan and Israel recently made headlines when reports suggested that the U.S. and Israel had asked the country to receive some of the Gazan population as part of President Trump’s Gaza reconstruction plan.

However, Sudanese officials said they rejected the request, joining several pro-Palestinian declarations in recent months.

At a Cairo summit of the Arab League in March, al-Burhan declared, “We resolutely reject any plans aimed at deporting our Palestinian brothers from their lands.”

His forces also include several Islamist militias, including one whose leader has conspicuously worn the Palestinian kaffiyeh throughout the civil war.

Peace with Sudan was seen as a strategic achievement in Israel, due to Sudan's stridently anti-Israel stance throughout its history. Its capital Khartoum hosted the infamous 1967 “three no’s” declaration by the Arab League, which rejected peace, recognition, and negotiations with Israel.

In recent decades, Sudan also functioned as a conduit for Iranian weapons transfers, causing sporadic strikes by the Israeli Air Force on convoys and factories in the country.

The main benefit Sudan hoped to achieve by normalization with Israel was in the agricultural sector, where Israeli firms are among the world leaders.

The Israeli tech know-how could help tap into and develop Sudan’s vast reserves of arable land, turning it into an exporter of crops.