[143] The two nations signed an agreement ending a dispute involving their 1,600-kilometer border, and landlocked Ethiopia made plans to make greater use of Port Sudan as a transshipment point.
[143] Agreement on usage of Nile water reemerged as an important issue between Addis Ababa and Khartoum, while Asmara supported the Sudanese position as another way to irritate Ethiopia.
[144] Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi ended his aid to the Christian and animist, southern-based, Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) led by Garang and welcomed the incoming government of General Suwar al Dahab.
[145] However, Mahdi soon turned against Gaddafi by declaring Sudan a neutral state in both regional and global conflicts and ordered Libyan troops to leave the country.
[148] On 17 February 2015 the U.S. government issued a general license to amend US Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions on Sudan.
[24] Relations between Sudan and Iran have long been cordial due to their opposition to the State of Israel and extensive trade and diplomatic services existed between the two nations.
[159] Although Sudan was trying to improve relations with the United States after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it remained critical of the subsequent American-led invasion of Iraq.
[159] On the one hand, it was quick to criticize the United States, which harshly condemned Sudan's record on human rights, for its double standard in dealing with prisoners in Iraq.
[159] By late 2004, however, Sudan's relations with the new Iraqi government had improved to the point that Iraq's foreign minister visited Khartoum and met with al-Bashir.
In January 2016, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour floated normalized ties with Israel provided the U.S. government lifts economic sanctions.
[165][166][167] Middle East Monitor contributor Nasim Ahmed opined that the transitional Sudanese government's actions were part of a foreign policy to move away from traditional allies like Turkey, Qatar and China and to court Western investors.
[173][174] Pakistan and Sudan regularly engage in collaborative dialogue at OIC summits to improve political stability in the Middle East and the Islamic World.
[175] In 2014, President Mamnoon Hussain proposed a third round of Pakistan-Sudan Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) to enhance cooperation in trade, economic and defence sectors.
[178] Qatar remains one of the largest foreign investors in Sudan,[179] and has helped broker peace agreements between the Sudanese government and rebel factions in Darfur.
[180] Both countries established diplomatic relations on 14 October 1956 when Minister of the Republic of Sudan to Saudi Arabia, Sayyid Mahjoub Maccawi, presented his credentials to King Saud.
[182] Although on opposing sides of the Middle East Peace Process spectrum, Turkey and Sudan have in recent years joined forces to end the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Both countries have made repeated plea talks during the offensive in Gaza during the beginning of 2009 to Palestinian officials to be of both economic and political aid to the turmoilic state.
[181] This alliance took an interesting twist at the end of 2004, when Yemeni president Ali Abdallah Salih offered to mediate differences between Sudan and Eritrea.
[190] Also in January 2017, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko signed in Khartoum a Comprehensive Friendship and Cooperation Agreement between the two countries.
On 27 February 2008, Sudan decided to boycott Danish goods after the controversial Muhammad cartoons have been reprinted by a series of newspapers in Denmark and other European countries.
[184] Chad, a former French colony and in recent years a country with which it had close relations, tended to influence France's view of the situation in Darfur.
[184] France hosted in June 2007 the United States, China, and some 15 other countries at a major conference intended to launch a new international effort to end the atrocities in Darfur.
Due to solidarity with both the United States and with the Soviet Union and with the allies of the two nations, Sudan declared neutrality and instead chose membership in the Non-Aligned Movement throughout the Cold War.
Due to a common enemy, diplomatic cooperation between the two countries dramatically got back on track during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Vladimir Putin was elected the President, and then the Prime Minister of Russia, and along with Chinese leader Hu Jintao opposed UN Peacekeepers in Darfur.
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 14 June 1956 when has been accredited Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain to Sudan (Resident in Cairo) Don Jose Castano y Cardona.
[7] In March 2009, Sudan expelled several major foreign aid agencies including Oxfam[194][195][196] and Save the Children from Darfur in response to the extradition request of Omar al-Bashir to answer ICC charges.
[196][197] Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's international director, said of the ban "It will affect more than 600,000 Sudanese people whom we provide with vital humanitarian and development aid, including clean water and sanitation on a daily basis.
"[199] In April 2009, Oxfam and other aid agencies appealed their ban[200] saying that "The expulsion is already affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of the very poorest and most vulnerable Sudanese people".
[159] Following the outbreak of conflict in Darfur in 2003 and sharp criticism of its policies by Western countries, Sudan relied on strong support from the Arab League.
[159] The Security Council imposed sanctions on Sudan in May 1996 after Khartoum refused to extradite three Egyptians to Ethiopia for their alleged involvement in the attempted assassination of President Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995.