Sudan’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged the United States to remove Sudan’s name from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. The United States first began imposing sanctions on Sudan in 1997 and has been listing it as one of the countries sponsoring terrorism since 1993.
During a meeting in Khartoum on Wednesday, Sudan Foreign Ministry’s Acting Undersecretary Omer Dahab made the appeal to the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Donald Booth.
“The undersecretary called on the U.S. to remove Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism to enable Sudan access international development support,” a statement by the Foreign Ministry said, reported Xinhuanet.com.
Dahab said Sudan is looking forward to being reintegrated into the international community, pointing out that the country needs international community support to achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for 2030.
He added that Sudan is expecting to normalize its ties with the U.S. and other countries, with which it had tense relations over the past decades.
The U.S. envoy Booth said Washington is working with its partners to look into how to support Sudan. He underlined the need to commit to the deadlines agreed on to establish transitional institutions and a civilian government in Sudan, after the ruling military council and the protest leaders reached a deal on the constitutional declaration.
Notably, The Us government has been renewing its sanctions on Sudan due to a number of outstanding issues between Sudan and South Sudan such as the territorial dispute over the oil-rich Abyei area and the continuing war in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions.
However, in October 2017, Washington decided to lift its economic sanctions on Sudan permanently, citing Sudan’s sustained positive actions to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas, improve humanitarian access, and maintain cooperation with the U.S. on addressing regional conflicts and terrorism threat.
