Sudan to be removed from the U.S list of terrorism sponsors
Oct 19, 2020(SSNN) — The united states is close to signing an agreement that will see Sudan removed from the U.S list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The United States President, Donald J. Trump (Photo: Supplied)
On Monday, the U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States would remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after the country’s new government pays millions to American victims.
“New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and a BIG step for Sudan!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Two U.S. officials had earlier on said that United States was close to signing an agreement with Sudan to remove Khartoum from the U.S. terrorism blacklist.
According to various reports, last week, the Trump administration had given Sudan 24 hours to respond to an ultimatum demanding that Khartoum recognizes the Jewish state and normalizes its ties with Jerusalem in exchange for being removed from the US blacklist of terrorism supporters.
Sudan responded by yielding to US pressure to forge formal ties with Israel.
Rapprochement between Israel and other Arab countries would give the U.S. President Donald Trump what could be seen as an opportunity to tout a new diplomatic achievement as he seeks re-election.
Sudan’s listing of the state donors of terrorist dates back to former president Omar A-Bashir and it makes it harder for transitional governments to access urgently needed debt relief and foreign financing.
Many in Sudan see this as undeserved since Bashir was removed last year and Sudan has long cooperated with the United States on counter-terrorism.
Sudan had insisted that any announcement of Khartoum’s de-listing not be explicitly linked to normalization with Israel as there are differences between Sudanese political and military officials on how far and how fast to go in warming of relations with Israel.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Khartoum in August that the normalization issue should not be linked to Sudan’s removal from the terrorism list.
One possibility, one U.S. official said, would be for Washington to first announce Sudan’s delisting and then leave it to Sudan and Israel to go public later with an agreement on establishing forging relations.
“Negotiations related to Sudan’s deposit in escrow of a $335 million settlement to victims of al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 are expected to conclude in the next two days, one of the U.S. government” sources said.
After that, the Trump administration would notify Congress of its intent to remove Sudan from the list.
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