Mossad chief Yossi Cohen met with Sudanese officials - report

The report of a meeting comes amid numerous reports of high-level discussions between Israeli and Sudanese officials.

The head of Sudan's Transitional Military Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, talks to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during the signing of a power sharing deal in Khartoum, Sudan, August 17, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS/ MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAH)
The head of Sudan's Transitional Military Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, talks to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during the signing of a power sharing deal in Khartoum, Sudan, August 17, 2019
(photo credit: REUTERS/ MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAH)
Mossad head Yossi Cohen met with the deputy chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, in addition to  which was mediated by UAE officials, according to a Haaretz report on Saturday, citing a report from the London-based Qatari-owned newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadid. It was reported that the UAE official involved in the mediation process was Tahanoon Ben-Zayed. Sudan has denied the report of the meeting. 
Sudanese Sovereign Council is a joint military-civilian body overseeing the transitional government following the ouster of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir, with elections expecting to take place in 2020, marking a move towards democratic governance. 
According to the report, council member Mohamed al-Faki said he had no knowledge of the meeting, and that the council is unwilling to discuss the issue. 
The report of a meeting came amid numerous reports of high-level discussions between Israeli and Sudanese officials on establishing normalized relations, amid the recent UAE-Israel normalization agreement and widely publicized meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan and head of the Sudanese military, in February in Uganda.
Similarly, Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Haidar Badawi al-Sadiq told Sky News Arabia that Sudan looks forward to a peace agreement with Israel on Wednesday, which was later backtracked.
Speaking to the Associated Press, a Sudanese government official indicated that Sudan-Israel talks have been talking place for months, mediated by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
"It's a matter of time before we close all the edges," the unnamed official said. 
"The move by the UAE has encouraged us and reassured some of the government voices who feared a public reaction in Sudan."