Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met Sudan’s leader to discuss normalizing ties, his office said. The talks are seen as a potentially landmark step that was denounced by the Palestinians, AFP reports. The PM’s office said he met Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s ruling sovereign council, in the Ugandan city of Entebbe on Monday.
Israel remains technically at war with Sudan, which for years supported hardline Islamist forces. The sovereign council is a transitional body of Sudan’s military officials and civilians that is headed by Burhan, an army general.
Israel has improved ties with African nations in recent years. On Monday, Netanyahu held talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and called for the opening of missions in each others’ countries, during a visit aimed at boosting ties.
“There are two things we very much want to achieve… one is direct flights from Israel to Uganda,” Netanyahu told Museveni at a joint press conference. “And second… you open an embassy in Jerusalem, I’ll open an embassy in Kampala.”