The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing to remove Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, in pursuit of another victory in foreign policy, and as a prelude to the normalization of the relationship with Israel, before the presidential elections to be held on the third of next November.
The New York Times said in a report that it is widely expected that Sudan will be removed from the list in the next few weeks, according to 4 sources who have direct knowledge of the plan prepared by the State Department.
The report added that this step would jeopardize compensation for victims of "terrorist attacks", after US courts concluded that it was carried out with the support of Khartoum.
Sudan has been on the terrorism list since 1993.
As a result, he was prevented from receiving international aid that would help stabilize his new government and consolidate democracy.
The report revealed that this would pave the way for Sudan to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel, in an agreement similar to the one signed this month between Israel and both the UAE and Bahrain, in which the administration of US President Donald Trump helped, and he promised that other countries would join it soon.
The newspaper pointed out that the full diplomatic agreement between Israel and Sudan will be difficult, if not impossible, as long as Sudan is on the US terrorism list.
But the administration intends to move forward without congressional legislation guaranteeing immediate compensation for the victims of the bombings that targeted the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the destroyer Cole in 2000, and the families of the victims, who expected $ 335 million in compensation from Sudan for sheltering the militants who carried out the attacks.
The report said the new plan would put the money in an escrow account, to be released to victims as soon as Congress grants Sudan immunity from future legal claims for previous terrorist attacks.
Officials have warned that the final decision to remove Sudan from the terrorism list must be approved by the White House, but President Trump is not expected to wait for a Congressional decision.
The report indicated that Israel developed its nascent relations with Sudan last February, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "the de facto leader" of Sudan (Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council Lieutenant General Lieutenant General) Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met for talks in Uganda, it is said that the UAE arranged for them. .
Days later, Sudan began allowing Israeli commercial aircraft to fly in its airspace.
And US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has the authority to remove Sudan from the terrorism list without congressional approval.
In his meeting last month in Khartoum with Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, Pompeo described the elimination of Sudan as "a critical bilateral priority for both countries."
The two men also discussed positive developments in the relationship between Sudan and Israel, according to the Foreign Ministry's summary of the meeting.
Trump said on September 15 that 5 other countries were considering establishing formal relations with Israel, while officials said they would include Sudan.
In 2016, after Sudan severed its diplomatic ties with Iran, the United States began easing sanctions imposed on Khartoum to reward its cooperation in counter-terrorism missions, and the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir last year fueled this breakthrough, in addition to international efforts to support democracy with the new transitional government.