Sudan: Ruling general Burhan says would be prepared to visit Israel

Sudan's ruling military general, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who mounted a coup nearly a year ago, on Thursday said he would be prepared to visit Israel.

Asked if he, as Sudan's leader, would visit Israel, Burhan told The Associated Press: "The basis of relations is reconciliation. Therefore, if an invitation was presented and there is the means for this, I will go."

In February 2020, Burhan met with then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda, paving the way for Sudan to controversially normalise ties with Israel.

The meeting was part of a series of US-brokered deals that year between Israel and four Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain and Sudan.

The agreements have been widely condemned, with Palestinians considering them a betrayal of their national cause for liberation.

Israel and Sudan have crafted security and intelligence relationships since the deals, known as the Abraham Accords, were signed.

These ties have seen officials exchange meetings repeatedly in unannounced trips.

Burhan spoke with the AP on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's high-level leaders' meeting.

It marked nearly one year after the general's coup upended the Arabic-speaking African nation's short-lived transition to democracy after three decades of repressive rule by Omar Al-Bashir.