U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo to Visit Sudan Next Week

August 22, 2020 

(KHARTOUM) - U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will visit Sudan next week within a regional tour to discuss the normalization of diplomatic ties between Israel and the U.A.E.

Pompeo speaks to the media in August 2019 (Reuters photo)The visit is seen as an attempt to capitalize on the recent agreement between Israeli and the United Arab Emirates to establish diplomatic relations.

U.S. diplomats told the AP that Pompeo will fly Sunday for Israel, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sudan.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan the head of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Ugandan on 3 February.

The visit will be the first visit of a US secretary of state to Sudan after a visit by Condoleezza Rice in July 2005 to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Sudan was added to the list of state sponsors of terrorism on 12 August 1993.

(ST)