عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Interviews

Hemedti to Asharq Al-Awsat: Normalizing Ties with Israel is a Gain for Sudan

Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Asharq Al-Awsat
Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
20
TT

Hemedti to Asharq Al-Awsat: Normalizing Ties with Israel is a Gain for Sudan

Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Asharq Al-Awsat
Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Asharq Al-Awsat

The Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council in Sudan, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, confirmed on Tuesday that the country’s decision to normalize ties with Israel stems from a national conviction.

Hemedti, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, denied the presence of foreign pressure on Khartoum, laying to rest claims that the US had blackmailed the North African state into normalizing relations with Tel Aviv.

Sudan’s historic commitment and stance towards the Palestinian cause does not prohibit its establishment of ties with Israel, Hemedti said, adding that the boycott has been worthless and did not benefit anyone.

“There is no enmity between us and Israel, and no war,” he stated.

“There is no Muslim or Arab army fighting to stand in solidarity with, this means that the boycott is worthless as a weapon,” Hemedti said, emphasizing that Sudan will “reap the fruits of peace and communication with Israel.”

Speaking about the public opinion on normalizing ties with Israel, Hemedti confirmed that 90% of the Sudanese people support the move.

He, however, highlighted that Sudan backs the Palestinian right to a sovereign state.

As for Arab resolutions that press for rejecting Israel on all levels, Hemedti said that “The Three No’s,” established at the 1967 Arab League summit, “did not benefit Sudan in anything.”

That summit is famous for its Khartoum Resolution known as "The Three No's"; No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.

“We are working to reconcile with the whole world and Israel is a part of it,” Hemedti affirmed.

“Sudan has suffered from international isolation for more than 27 years, due to it being listed by the US as a terror sponsoring state,” he explained.

On the war in Darfur, Hemedti said that it constitutes “a revolt against the state.”

He held the state accountable for the crimes committed, but denied it having carried out any ethnic cleansing campaigns.

As the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an amalgamation of Sudanese paramilitary forces operated by the government, Hemedti said that the RSF will eventually merge with the Sudanese army according to a peace deal between the state and armed factions.

Most Viewed

 
Interviews

Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
TT
20
TT

Hochstein to Asharq Al-Awsat: Land Border Demarcation between Lebanon, Israel ‘is Within Reach’

AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon
AFP file photo of Amos Hochstein speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon

The former US special envoy, Amos Hochstein, said the maritime border agreement struck between Lebanon and Israel in 2022 and the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah at the end of last year show that a land border demarcation “is within reach.”

“We can get to a deal but there has to be political willingness,” he said.

“The agreement of the maritime boundary was unique because we’d been trying to work on it for over 10 years,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“I understood that a simple diplomatic push for a line was not going to work. It had to be a more complicated and comprehensive agreement. And there was a real threat that people didn’t realize that if we didn’t reach an agreement we would have ended up in a conflict - in a hot conflict - or war over resources.”

He said there is a possibility to reach a Lebanese-Israeli land border agreement because there’s a “provision that mandated the beginning of talks on the land boundary.”

“I believe with concerted effort they can be done quickly,” he said, adding: “It is within reach.”

Hochstein described communication with Hezbollah as “complicated,” saying “I never had only one interlocutor with Hezbollah .... and the first step is to do shuttle diplomacy between Lebanon, Lebanon and Lebanon, and then you had to go to Israel and do shuttle diplomacy between the different factions” there.

“The reality of today and the reality of 2022 are different. Hezbollah had a lock on the political system in Lebanon in the way it doesn’t today.”

North of Litani

The 2024 ceasefire agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to take full operational control of the south Litani region, all the way up to the border. It requires Hezbollah to demilitarize and move further north of the Litani region, he said.

“I don’t want to get into the details of other violations,” he said, but stated that the ceasefire works if both conditions are met.

Lebanon’s opportunity

“Lebanon can rewrite its future ... but it has to be a fundamental change,” he said.

“There is so much potential in Lebanon and if you can bring back opportunity and jobs - and through economic and legal reforms in the country - I think that the future is very bright,” Hochstein told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Hezbollah is not trying to control the politics and remember that Hezbollah is just an arm of Iran” which “should not be imposing its political will in Lebanon, Israel should not be imposing its military will in Lebanon, Syria should not. No one should. This a moment for Lebanon to make decisions for itself,” he added.