US removes Sudan from list of countries supporting terrorism
Aerial view of Khartoum, Sudan.
Getty Images / Robert Caputo
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
This measure was taken in 1993 to punish Sudan for harboring Osama bin Laden and several al-Qaeda militants.
Khartoum was accused of complicity in certain terrorist operations.
With this decision, it is the end of a long wait for the Sudanese.
Publicity
Read more
With our regional correspondent in Nairobi
,
Sébastien Nemeth
Sudan had been on this list for 27 years
.
A sanction that cut the country off from part of the international financial system while its economy is in crisis.
The situation has changed with the fall of the dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir.
The new power has made removal from this list a priority.
He gave pledges of goodwill.
Washington and Khartoum have drawn closer.
Then everything accelerated when on October 19, Donald Trump announced that he intended to remove Sudan from the list, in exchange for compensation for the victims of the 1998 attacks against the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the attack on the USS Cole ship in 2000. And Khartoum did.
The government provided $ 335 million.
On October 26, the US president therefore sent the withdrawal request to Congress, which had 45 days to express objections.
It did not happen, so Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, signed the document confirming the lifting of this sanction.
An economic and political return
From now on, Sudan hopes to get its head out of the water economically.
The country is undergoing a very serious crisis, with shortages of gasoline and foodstuffs, and galloping inflation.
However, this sanction prevented Sudan from obtaining loans from international institutions or even relief from its external debt, which amounts to more than 60 billion dollars.
All of this will change.
Sudan will return to the international stage, from an economic point of view, but also politically.
With perhaps the end of pariah status.
The Sudanese Prime Minister also explained that after “
three decades of isolation, Sudan officially joined the international community.
Abdalla Hamdok spoke of new possibilities to "
reform the economy, attract investment, create opportunities especially for young people
", etc.
This lifting of sanctions will also lead to a rapprochement with Israel.
It was another American condition:
that the Sudan in turn recognize the Hebrew state
.
What Sudan had accepted, adding anyway that it would not do so until it was permanently removed from the list.
We could therefore move towards a formal agreement signed by the Sudanese and the Israelis confirming the normalization of their relations.
Inflation remains a major problem
However, this announcement will not solve all the problems of Sudan, because we still have to settle the question of the sovereign immunity of the country, that is to say to prevent someone from starting new legal proceedings against Khartoum for his terrorist past.
This is what the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks would like to do, even though Sudan's role in these attacks has never been proven.
But Khartoum absolutely wants to recover its immunity.
He even put the $ 335 million in compensation in a blocked account.
And the money will only be distributed if the country recovers its immunity.
And then there is the Sudanese economy.
According to researcher Jean-Baptiste Galopin, the withdrawal should allow Sudan to capture the funds lost in the informal sector and thus stabilize its currency.
On the other hand, the monetary risks, corruption and political uncertainty of the transition will continue to cool the investors who are essential to the economic recovery.
Not to mention inflation which is the current biggest obstacle.
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
On the same subject
Donald Trump extends sanctions against Sudan for one year
Terrorism: Sudan is still waiting for Washington to remove it from their blacklist
Donald Trump announces normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan