Sudan: Mike Pompeo urges rapid lifting of US sanctions
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington, April 29, 2020 (Illustrative image).
Andrew Harnik / Pool via REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The US State Department is reportedly pushing for Sudan to be removed from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.
Mike Pompeo asks senators to remove Khartoum from this list, which would simplify the economic situation of the country in crisis.
Publicity
Read more
With our regional correspondent,
Sébastien Németh
Mike Pompeo asks senators to "
seize this opportunity,
" according to a letter from the latter revealed by
The Foreign Policy
magazine
.
Speaking Wednesday to Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, the Secretary of State believes that "
the window of opportunity is unique but narrow to support the Sudanese civil transition
".
He therefore asks senators to adopt, by mid-October, a text drafted by Democrat Chris Coons.
Taken in 1993, the American sanctions weigh on a Sudanese economy already in full doldrums.
They prevent Sudan from
accessing part of the
international
financial system
.
Mike Pompeo therefore recalls that it is in the interest of the United States and its security, to avoid a failure of the fragile Sudanese transition, which, according to him, could lead to the return of an Islamist regime.
Compensation for victims of attacks
Senator Coons' text provides for the withdrawal of Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, in exchange for
$
335
million in compensation,
notably for the families of the victims of the 1998 attacks, against the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
This compromise would also bring a kind of "
legal peace
" to Sudan, preventing any new legal proceedings.
But some elected officials are divided.
Democrat Robert Menendez, for example, criticizes the project for not including the victims of the September 11 attacks.
Families are also divided, mainly because of the greater compensation granted to American victims compared to foreigners.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Sudan
United States
Terrorism
Diplomacy
On the same subject
US urges Sudan to normalize relations with Israel
Attacks of 1998: Khartoum and Washington close to an agreement to compensate the victims