Sudan's army chief denies collaborating with Israel

Sudan's General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council denied growing cooperation between Sudan and Israel on security and intelligence after the two countries had exchanges of information.

He made his comments in an interview with Sudan's state-run TV which aired on Saturday.

Burhan said that such ties between the former adversaries were not of political nature, adding that only Sudanese security and intelligence officials paid visits to Israel.

"Till this moment no prominent political figure paid any visit (to Israel)" he said but he added that this exchange of information allowed the country to arrest "many terrorist organizations that could have destabilized the security of Sudan".

However, he did not elaborate further on the issue.

During recent weeks Sudanese and Israeli officials exchanged visits in various unannounced trips.

The most recent visit was by a Sudanese security delegation in Tel Aviv last week and a previous visit by Israeli officials, including Mossad agents, to Khartoum in January.

Last October, the then Sudanese justice minister, Nasredeen Abdulbari, and Israeli Cabinet ministers Idan Roll and Edawi Frej held a rare joint public meeting in the United Arab Emirates' capital of Abu Dhabi.

Sudan and Israel normalised ties in 2020 as part of a series of U.S.-brokered deals between Israel and four Arab countries.

The agreement paved the way for Sudan to reintegrate into the international community after two decades of isolation under former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir.