Five main reasons prevented the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, from achieving his aspirations to persuade the Sudanese government to normalize with Israel, during his visit, on Tuesday, to Khartoum, which is struggling with conditions for change, after the fall of the regime of isolated President Omar al-Bashir.
The visit came within the framework of a regional tour whose primary purpose was to persuade Arab countries, including Sudan, to move forward on the path that the UAE had taken, by declaring full normalization with Israel.
The position of the political incubator of the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, which opposes normalization with Israel, was the main reason that prompted the government to apologize for following the path of overt normalization. This incubator is made up of parties and currents that have a solid political doctrine towards the Israeli occupation state, such as the National Socialist Baath Party, And the “Nasserite” party and the “Communist” party, in addition to the “National Umma” party with Islamic leanings.
The second reason behind the failure of Pompeo’s mission is the timing of the visit itself, as it came during days when deep differences escalated between the military and civilian components of the transitional authority in Sudan, so civilians were not enthusiastic to put additional funds for the military that is more identical to the idea of normalization since last February, The date of the meeting between the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the Ugandan city of Entebbe.
The third reason is that he is related to Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok himself, who does not want to provide a service to the American administration of this size, without gaining anything corresponding to it, at least removing the name of Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, and what prompted Hamdok to hesitate more is the American statement, which preceded the visit one day He denies the existence of a link between normalization and the removal of Sudan’s name from the blacklist, which Khartoum believes is the basis of its economic problems, and prevents it from merging with the international community and obtaining the support of international financing institutions.
In the fourth reason, the concerns of the Sudanese government and its political incubator come from the increase in polarization and political division in the country, by adding the normalization clause, which, once approved, will cause new divisions and deduct from the government’s popular balance already affected by poor living conditions and high prices, And the deterioration of the national currency.
The fifth and last reason is the feeling of the Sudanese, as well as government officials and politicians, that normalization with Israel days after the normalization of the Emirates, the Sudanese state will appear, as a mere subordinate to Abu Dhabi, and they preferred that the decision be purely Sudanese, whether by rejection or approval.
These combined reasons do not mean a final failure of the US Secretary of State’s endeavours, as the bet on Tel Aviv and Washington will remain the same on the military component that remains on its first enthusiasm, and this is confirmed by the US State Department statement after the meeting between al-Burhan and Pompeo, as the statement pointed very clearly to Continuing to deepen the relationship between Sudan and Israel.
