Sudan has fired its foreign ministry spokesman following remarks he made concerning "contacts" between Khartoum and Israel, the state news agency SUNA reported on Wednesday.
Spokesman Haydar Sadig made the comments to regional media and confirmed them to Reuters on Tuesday, describing the United Arab Emirates' decision to normalize relations with Israel as "a brave and bold step".
Sudan's foreign ministry said it was "astonished" by his remarks and stressed that the government had not discussed the possibility of diplomatic relations.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Sudan confirms that the issue of relations with Israel was not discussed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in any way, and Ambassador Haydar Badawi (Sadig) was not assigned to make any statements in this regard,” it added in a statement.
Under the US-brokered deal announced last week, the UAE becomes the just third Arab country to forge full relations with Israel in more than 70 years.
In February, Israeli officials said Israel and Sudan had agreed to move towards forging normal relations for the first time during a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s military-led, transitional sovereign council, in Uganda.
Back in February, Burhan confirmed the meeting with Netanyahu but cast doubt on any rapid normalization of ties, saying Sudan’s stance on the Palestinian issue remains unchanged, and that relations between the two countries was the responsibility of the civilian cabinet in Khartoum.
