The West German Foreign Ministry announced today that the Federal Republic and Sudan have renewed diplomatic relations and will exchange ambassadors “in the very near future.” The announcement followed one earlier this week that Bonn has renewed diplomatic ties with Algeria. Relations between West Germany and most Arab states were broken by the Arabs in 1965 after Bonn extended de jure recognition to Israel. Jordan and Yemen split with West Germany after the 1967 Six-Day War. Egypt is expected to renew relations shortly.
According to official circles here, the only Arab country still resisting a diplomatic rapprochement with Germany is Syria. Damascus is said to consider the present Social Democratic government of Chancellor Willy Brandt to be “just as pro-Israel as its Christian Democratic predecessors. An emissary of the Brandt regime. Bundestag member Hans Juergen Wishnewski, is currently in Damascus trying to negotiate a renewal of diplomatic relations.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.