Sudan ministers vote to overturn 63-year Israel boycott

Sudan’s interim government has voted to revoke a decades-old law boycotting Israel and its products.

Only one minister in the cabinet opposed the motion, which follows last year’s decision to normalise relations between the two countries.

It comes three months after Sudan announced it had officially joined the Abraham Accords, a US-sponsored treaty that was Israel establish relations with a number of Arab countries for the first time.

It was the fourth country to do so, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Egypt and Jordan have had diplomatic relations with Israel for several decades.

The Sudanese boycott has been in place since 1958, the same year the country’s government was overthrown in a nationalist coup.

A statement by Sudan’s Council of Ministers said they also affirmed Sudan’s “firm stance towards the establishment of a Palestinian state within the framework of the two-state solution”.

The proposal to rescind the boycott must be approved by the 11-member Sovereignty Council — which takes decisions under Sudan’s collective presidency system — before it becomes law.

Sudan’s transitional government has been in place since long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in April 2019 after almost 30 years in power.

In addition to building ties with Israel, the authorities have also launched peace talks with various rebel groups in a bid to end decades-old civil wars, particularly in the Darfur region.