Sudan allows Israeli planes over its airspace two days after Uganda meet

Sudan, on Wednesday, agreed to allow Israeli airplanes to cross its airspace, international media reported. The decision comes two days after the Sudanese military head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda. 

The meeting between the two leaders sparked controversy in Sudan after the Israeli officials declared that it could lead to normalising the situation between the two former foes. The meeting did not go down well with the Cabinet of Sudan which held two meetings over it. 

In its response, Sudan’s military issued a rare political statement describing Burhan’s meeting with Netanyahu as ‘being in the highest interest of national security and Sudan.’

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Elaborating on the meeting, Sudan’s military spokesperson Amer Mohamed al-Hassan told international media that there had been an agreement in principle for the use of Sudan’s airspace by commercial aircraft travelling between South America and Israel, though he added that technical aspects of the overflights were still being studied. He also said that Sudan has not yet agreed to overflights by Israeli carrier El Al. Talking about the Sudan-Israel relationship, he said that the South African country hasn’t announced a complete normalisation with Israel but it is definitely exchanging interests.

'We will overfly Sudan'

On the other hand, Netanyahu - who is set to face elections on March 2 - in a campaign speech on Wednesday said that they are now establishing cooperative relations. In his speech, he also announced that they will overfly Sudan. The announcement comes just a week after he unveiled US President Donald Trump’s Middle East Plan in Washington. The new air corridor would also include airspace over Chad and Egypt, the two countries with which Israel reconciled its severed relation in 2018. 

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