Pompeo visits Sudan

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disembarked from the first direct flight from Israel to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Tuesday. The United States is pushing to normalize relations between the two countries after successfully brokering diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. and Israeli officials hope other Arab nations follow the UAE’s lead. Pompeo is the first U.S. official to visit Sudan since last year’s political crisis ousted longtime autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.

What did they discuss? Topics included removing Sudan from the United States’ list of state sponsors of terrorism and supporting the transitional government, according to Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Information Minister Faisal Saleh urged the United States not to link the removal of sanctions to whether the country successfully establishes diplomatic ties with Israel since the transitional leadership lacks the authority to make that decision.

Dig deeper: Read my report in World Tour about the Sudanese coup.