July 7, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The Israeli government intends to recognise South Sudan as an independent state following the official declaration this weekend, a newspaper report said.
War between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the largely Christian and South left two million people dead until a 2005 peace agreement, which paved the way for a referendum and eventual secession.
The Ha’aretz daily quoted sources at the Israeli foreign ministry as saying that the Jewish state views positively the recognition of the new state.
This is expected to take place immediately after the United States and European Union countries do so.
The newspaper also revealed that Israel’s foreign ministry appointed a special coordinator to deal with South Sudan several months ago and that they have been exchanging secret messages with the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) for a long time.
It is not clear that Tel Aviv will move to establish full diplomatic relations with Juba following its recognition of South Sudan.
Officials in Southern Sudan in the past have expressed openness to the idea of forging ties with Israel.
North Sudan considers Israel an enemy but said it is up to the South to make a determination on whether it should establish ties with Tel Aviv.
There are about 8,500 asylum seekers from Sudan in Israel today. Nearly 2,000 of them are thought to be from South Sudan.
(ST)
Latest Comments & Analysis
A new approach to peace 2018-04-23 06:16:35 By Miroslav Laják When the United Nations was created, its founders envisioned a different kind of world. A world in which disputes were resolved in meeting rooms and not battlefields. A world (...)
Bring Sudanese troops home now 2018-04-21 15:25:57 By Salah Shuaib The Sudanese troops fighting hard now in Yemen, who were sent there by order of al-Bashir, should return home. The process of implementing this task is much challenging. But, we (...)
Dissolution and formation of the Cabinet - 2013 2018-04-20 08:00:00 Amb Telar Deng The events that led to the 2013 dissolution of cabinet can be traced back to the deep mistrust that fermented back in 1991 when leaders failed to close ranks. After the 1991 (...)
MORE