Sudan gives Israel initial okay for overflights, official

Sudan has agreed to allow flights heading to Israel to cross its airspace, a military spokesman said on Wednesday, two days after Sudan’s military head of state held a surprise meeting with Israel’s prime minister.

The meeting in Uganda between Sudan’s Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu stirred controversy in Sudan after Israeli officials said it would lead to normalising relations between the two former foes.

Tensions have risen between the military and civilian groups sharing power after last year’s overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir. The cabinet has held two emergency meetings over the Uganda trip, about which it says it was not informed.

Sudan’s military responded with a rare political statement on Wednesday, describing Burhan’s trip to meet Netanyahu as being in “the highest interests of national security and of Sudan.”

Sudanese military spokesman Amer Mohamed al-Hassan told Al Jazeera there had been an agreement “in principle” for use of Sudan’s airspace by commercial aircraft travelling from South America to Israel, though he said technical aspects of the overflights were still being studied and Sudan had not agreed to overflights by Israeli carrier El Al.

“Sudan has not announced full normalisation (with Israel), but it is exchanging interests,” he said.