Sudan’s Foreign Ministry Fires Spokesman After Israel-Related Gaffe

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry fired its spokesperson Haydar Badawi Sadig on Wednesday, following an embarrassing diplomatic incident that threatened to put a damper on the country’s relations with its Muslim allies. The termination, first reported by Al Jazeera, came several hours after the ministry was forced to issue a statement clarifying that it had not entered peace talks with Israel and that it was astonished to hear its own spokesman claim otherwise. On Tuesday, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman told Sky News that his country was in the midst of finalizing a deal with Israel, similar to the one signed by the United Arab Emirates last week, which Sadig called “a brave and bold step.” Following the spokesman’s remarks, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi both published tweets of encouragement, touting his words as a “substantial change” in the region and promising to “do whatever is necessary to turn this vision into reality.” Following his ministry’s denial, Sadig released a statement of his own, explaining that he had based his erroneous remarks on the fact that he had not seen anyone in Khartoum issue a denial to the Israeli intelligence minister’s claim of imminent normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries. By early Wednesday, however, it was apparent that these clarifications were not enough. Relations between Israel and Sudan witnessed a significant thaw in February after Netanyahu and Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met in Uganda and agreed verbally to advance normalization.