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Official: US Wants Khartoum, Tel Aviv to Normalize Ties Before Elections

Sudanese Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)
Sudanese Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)
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Official: US Wants Khartoum, Tel Aviv to Normalize Ties Before Elections

Sudanese Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)
Sudanese Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)

An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday that Washington rejected a Sudanese request to separate between the issue of normalizing ties with Israel from a US decision on removing Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The US is pushing for a peace agreement between the two sides before the presidential elections in November, a Sudanese official source said.

The source expressed fears from losing the chance of removing Sudan from the terrorism sponsors list, which paralyzes the government performance and impedes the reintegration of the country into the international community.

“Sudanese officials should take a decision in this regard as quickly as possible since only two weeks separate us from the presidential election campaigns. After this period, the Republican candidate would not benefit from the normalization of ties,” the source added.

However, speeding up any peace agreement with Israel is still opposed by several members of the ruling coalition parties including the National Umma Party and the Communist Party.

Sudan's acting Foreign Affairs Minister Omar Qamareddine told France 24 channel on Friday that his country has discussed with Washington the issue of removing Khartoum from the list of sponsors of terrorism for several years and that talks concerning normalizing ties with Israel is separate from this issue.

The military component of the transitional sovereign council, headed by Abdel-Fattah Burhan, supports normalizing ties with Israel and considers in Sudan's benefit.

However, the civil component of the council believes that the Transitional Government does not possess any “authorization” to decide on the normalizing process.

Last week, Vice president of the sovereign council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said his country will continue to strive towards building relations with Israel.

Speaking to television channel Sudania24, Dagalo said establishing relations with Israel will fulfill a promise by the US to remove Sudan from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

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UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide’ in Gaza

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese speaks during a press conference following an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel in relation to the conflict in Gaza, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025. (Reuters)

The United Nations’ special rapporteur for Gaza and the West Bank said Tuesday that it's time for nations around the world to take concrete actions to stop what she called the “genocide” in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 countries meeting in Colombia’s capital to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and ways that nations can try to stop Israel’s military offensive in the territory. Many of the participating nations have described the violence as genocide against the Palestinians.

“Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel ... and ensure its private sector does the same,” Albanese said. “The Israeli economy is structured to sustain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.”

The two-day conference organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa is being attended mostly by developing nations, although the governments of Spain, Ireland and China have also sent delegates.

Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel.”

Analysts say it’s not clear whether the conference's participating countries have enough leverage over Israel to force it to change its policies in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed in Israeli military operations following a deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. The death toll comes from the health ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas government and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

“The United States has so far failed to influence Israel’s behavior ... so it is naive to think that this group of countries can have any influence over (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s behavior or on the government of Israel,” said Sandra Borda, a professor of international relations at Bogota’s Los Andes University.

She said, however, that the conference will enable some nations of the Global South to clarify their position toward the conflict and have their voices heard.

The conference is co-chaired by the governments of South Africa and Colombia, which last year suspended coal exports to Israeli power plants, and includes the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight nations that earlier this year pledged to cut military ties with Israel and to comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

For decades, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party has compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank with its own history of oppression under the harsh apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

South Africa’s current argument is rooted in the sentiment that Palestinians have been oppressed in their homeland as Black South Africans were under apartheid.

The gathering comes as the European Union weighs various measures against Israel that include a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and individual sanctions against Israeli officials, who are found to be blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Colombia’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo said Monday that the nations participating in the Bogota meeting, which also include Qatar and Türkiye, will be discussing diplomatic and judicial measures that can be taken to put more pressure on Israel to cease its attacks.

The Colombian official described Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an affront to the international order.

“This is not just about Palestine” Jaramillo said in a press conference. “It is about defending international law... and the right to self-determination.”