Sudan military backs leader’s meeting with Netanyahu

KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Sudanese military says it backs a surprise meeting between the country’s leader and Israel’s prime minister in Uganda this week, saying the opening would help boost national security.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Entebbe on Monday in a previously unannounced meeting.

Israel remains technically at war with Sudan, which supported hardline Islamists including al-Qaeda during the three-decade rule of autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ousted amid mass protests last year.

Yesterday, Burhan briefed the sovereign council and top ministers about his meeting, saying he took the step to meet Netanyahu “to protect the national security of Sudan.”

The vote of support for Burhan from the military came after top officers met at army headquarters in Khartoum.

“There was a meeting at the army headquarters today, and those present in the meeting were briefed about the visit of the army’s commander to Uganda and its impact on Sudan’s national security,” military spokesman Brigadier Amir Mohamed Al-Hassan tells AFP.

“The army is in favor of this (Burhan-Netanyahu) meeting as it is in the interest of Sudan’s national security.”

Soon after the Monday meeting, Netanyahu’s office put out a statement saying that said he believed that post-Bashir Sudan was headed “in a positive direction.”

— AFP