Sudan reveals its conditions for normalization … 7 billion dollars and remove it from terrorism list

Sudanese sources revealed on Thursday that Sudan has reached a conditional agreement with the US administration on normalization with Israel, to be announced in a few days, according to the London-based daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Sudan agreed to normalize with Israel during the three-day talks in Abu Dhabi, during which I had contacts with US President Donald Trump and his adviser, Jared Kushner.

According to the newspaper, the conditions included US support for Sudan in the amount of $ 7 billion, removal of Khartoum from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, defining its role in the Arab-Israeli peace accords. and the negotiation between the two parties to pass legislation to ensure that Khartoum is not prosecuted in any future matters.

Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council had said on Wednesday: “The negotiations between the president of the Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan with the US side confirmed Sudan’s support for the Arab-Israeli peace accords and considered them a path to stability in the region, preserving the rights of the Palestinians through the two-state settlement agreement. ” He added that the talks were characterized by seriousness and frankness, discussed a series of topics of common interest and addressed regional and international situations, including the future of Arab-Israeli peace and its impact on the preservation of the stability in the region and the preservation of the rights of the Palestinian people to establish their state in accordance with the two-state solution, and the role of Sudan in achieving that peace.

On Wednesday, the Sudanese Council of Ministers said compensation amounts were ready for the victims of the destroyer “Cole” and the bombing of the two embassies in Dar Al Salam and Nairobi. This came at a Council session on efforts to remove Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok indicated in a statement a decision by the US Supreme Court in this regard, highlighted that “the required sums are ready to compensate them”, and said that “there is agreement on a legislation that will immunize the Sudanese government from any future case” that may be presented by one of the families of the victims of the Cole bombing or the bombing of the two embassies.

The Council of Ministers highlighted “the importance of the commitment plan with the United States through bilateral cooperation and joint work, which led to the removal of the name of Sudan from the list, to start a new stage that witness the normal relations between Both countries”.

The statement did not mention the amount, but Sudan’s Information Minister Faisal Muhammad Saleh announced last August that Sudan’s transitional government had agreed with the US administration that an amount of $ 330 million would be paid.

The agreement comes to remove the country from the terrorism list, in exchange for compensation to the families of the victims of the bombing of the Washington embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Saleh announced to CNN. that. The »American television.

In 1993, the US administration placed Sudan on this list, after Khartoum was accused during the era of the ousted president, Omar al-Bashir, of supporting and harboring elements and groups classified by Washington as terrorists.

The “Cole” incident dates back to October 2000, when two people detonated a rubber canister full of explosives near the guided missile-armed destroyer while refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 American sailors, while the two The attackers declared that they belonged to the “Al Qaeda” organization. .

In August 1998, the Washington embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi were subjected to suicide bombings, resulting in hundreds of deaths, coinciding with the eighth anniversary of the arrival of US forces in Saudi Arabia.

Last May, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling requiring Khartoum, accused of complicity in carrying out the attacks, to pay financial compensation to the families of the 224 dead.

In October 2017, the administration of US President Donald Trump lifted economic sanctions and a trade embargo that had been imposed on Sudan since 1997. However, it did not remove Sudan from the list of countries it considers “sponsors of the terrorism “included in it since 1993, for hosting the late leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, between 1991 and 1996.

And US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during a visit last August to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, raised the issue of Sudan establishing relations with Israel, and was told by Hamdok at the time that he had no mandate to doing so and, according to US officials, Pompeo supported removing Sudan from the list and ending it. Next October, as the deadline for this movement. Israel encouraged the Trump administration to comply with Sudan’s request for economic aid as part of any normalization agreement.