Sudanese parties reject normalisation with Israel before general elections are held

Fourteen political movements and parties in Sudan have called on the country's normalisation process with Israel to be halted until general elections are held, according to reports this week. 

The signatories of the statement stressed that continuing with the normalisation agreement would expose the Sudanese transitional government to further divisions at a sensitive point in the country's history. 

Sudan followed the UAE and Bahrain in signing a normalisation agreement with Israel in October 2020. 

The group said they recognise the complexities Sudan faces during its path to democracy but that the country must not give up on its insistence on a two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict. 

"It [Sudan] is heading towards a solid democratic transformation, full transparency and liquidation of the legacy of the worst fascist regimes in its history, and the transitional period faces many pitfalls and difficulties," said the statement.

"Sudan's principled position based on the United Nations Charter and the decisions of its General Assembly and on the humanitarian position on the right of peoples to their freedom, independence and sovereignty over their lands, and adherence to the legitimacy and right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."

The statement said that no single party has the right to shift Sudan's position on this matter "and it is not within the jurisdiction of the institutions of the transitional period".

The signatories indicated that a decision to normalise relations must be taken by an elected legislative body and not the transitional government, which is still beholden to conditions set by the previous regime. 

Read more: How US blackmail pushed Sudan to normalise ties with Israel

A premature normalisation of relations with Israel would open the door to a new dictatorship that excluded people from decision making, it said.

The statement was signed by the Nationalist Baath Party, the Arab Socialist Baath Party, the Sudanese Front for Change, the Free Student Movement, the Free Mass Movement, the Nasserite Democratic Unionist Party, the Free Federal Movement, and the Alliance of Sudanese Women Politicians.

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