Sudan protesters burn Israeli flag in rally against normalization deal



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Dozens of Sudanese protesters burned the Israeli flag on Sunday during a rally against Khartoum’s recent signing of an agreement to normalize relations with the Jewish state, an AFP correspondent reported.

Protesters gathered outside cabinet offices in the capital Khartoum, chanting anti-Israel slogans and carrying banners saying “normalization is betrayal” and “normalization is a crime”.

On January 6, Sudan became the third Arab country to sign the United States negotiated “Abraham Accords” on normalizing relations with Israel after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last year.

Morocco also agreed to a US-sponsored “normalization” with Israel that restores past relations.

The protesters, who said they were part of an anti-normalization group, also carried banners that read “with the Abraham Agreements” and “the Abraham Agreements are American blackmail in exchange for submission.”

Sudan signed the agreements less than a month after Washington removed Khartoum from its blacklist of “sponsor states of terrorism” as part of a quid pro quo for the East African country normalizing relations with Israel .

In October, Khartoum said its deal with the Jewish state would not come into effect until it was approved by a parliament that has yet to be formed.

The country has been going through a difficult transition since the military ousted longtime President Omar al-Bashir in 2019 after months of mass protests against his regime, sparked by economic hardship.

The transitional administration, which seized power months after Bashir’s ouster, lobbied to rebuild the economy of the country plagued by decades of US sanctions and internal strife.

He has sought to bolster his international reputation by forging closer ties with the United States, as he grapples with a worsening economic crisis, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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