SUDAN WATCH: Sudan allows former foe Israel to fly over its territory - Gaddafi said Israel, not Bashir, behind Darfur war

Sudan allows former foe Israel to fly over its territory
Report by BBC World Service

Dated 17 February 2020

BBC Image credit and caption: Nur Photo

The first Israeli plane crossed Sudan on Saturday on its way to South America (file photo)

Israel says it has begun flying commercial aircraft through Sudanese airspace under an agreement with the Khartoum government.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told a group of visiting US Jewish leaders that the first Israeli plane crossed Sudan on Saturday, bound for South America.

He said the new air corridor would cut the flying time on the route by three hours.

Sudan said in early Ferbruary that it had given initial approval for Israeli planes to fly over its territory.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel was discussing rapid normalisation of ties with its former foe.

Sudan, which has close ties with the Palestinians, has stopped short of referring to improving ties with Israel.

View Original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cq23pdgvgm8t/sudan

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Copy of Reuters report from the archives of Sudan Watch 2009:

Gaddafi says Israel, not Bashir, behind Darfur war

Report from Reuters

Written by Lamine Ghanmi; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Dated 24 February 2009 / 6:43 PM / 11 YEARS AGO

TRIPOLI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the current African Union president, on Tuesday accused "foreign forces" including Israel of being behind the Darfur conflict.

Judges from the International Criminal Court are due to announce on March 4 whether they will issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. U.N. diplomats have told Reuters the warrant will be issued.

But Gaddafi, addressing a meeting on ways to expand cooperation between the United Nations and African Union, urged the Court to stop its proceedings against Bashir:

"Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv (Israel), for example, is behind the Darfur crisis?"

Gaddafi suggested, without presenting any evidence, that the Israeli military was among those stoking the conflict:

"It is not a secret. We have found evidence proving clearly that foreign forces are behind the Darfur problem and are fanning its fire," Gaddafi said, according to the Libyan state news agency Jana.

"We discovered that some of the main leaders of the Darfur rebels have opened offices in Tel Aviv and hold meetings with the military there to add fuel to the conflict fire."

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan’s government in 2003, accusing it of neglecting the Darfur region. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the rebellion.

International experts say the fighting has killed 200,000 people and uprooted 2.7 million. Sudan’s government denies any genocide, saying that 10,000 have been killed and that Western media exaggerate the conflict.

Gaddafi himself has made a number of attempts to broker peace talks between Darfur rebels and the Sudanese government.

View Original: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLO50752
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FURTHER READING
From the archives of Sudan Watch:

August 17, 2019

Ex-Israel spy admits lobbying US on behalf of Sudan military council

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2019/08/dickens-madson-lobbyists-dont-know.html

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May 27, 2009

Suspected Israeli airstrike on a convoy in Sudan January 2009 killed 119 people

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/05/suspected-israeli-airstrike-on-convoy.html

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April 13, 2009

Envoy to Tehran stresses Mossad's role in Sudan's insecurity

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/sudans-envoy-to-tehran-stresses-mossads.html

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April 05, 2009

Africa Confidential heard that another arms convoy was moving north near Red Sea coast and Egyptian forces were moving to Sudan border to block it

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/04/africa-confidential-heard-that-another.html

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March 26, 2009

Unidentified aircraft destroyed suspected arms convoy in E. Sudan last January (Update 4)

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/03/unidentified-aircraft-destroyed.html

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February 28, 2009

AU Chairman: Hard Evidence Proves Israel behind Darfur Conflict

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/02/au-chairman-hard-evidence-proves-israel.html

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February 18, 2009

SLM's Abdel Wahid al-Nur visits Israel -