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So far, four countries are on the US list of supporters of state terrorism. Sudan could disappear soon. But first the African state has to pay millions.
In exchange for paying millions to American victims of terrorism, the United States government wants to remove Sudan from its list of supporters of state terrorism. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced it through Twitter. The prerequisite is that Sudan adhere to the agreed payment of $ 335 million (about 290 million euros), which “after a long time will finally bring justice for the American people,” Trump said.
Sudan’s classification as a supporter of terrorism has isolated the country from northeast Africa internationally. After a phase-out, it should be much easier for international companies and banks, among others, to do business in Sudan. In addition, it will also make it easier for the Khartoum government to regain access to aid from multilateral donors, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The only other countries on the terrorist list are North Korea, Iran, and Syria. Sudan has been there since 1993.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said he expected Trump to officially announce his decision to Congress.
Does Israel play a role?
Sudan has long been going through a deep economic crisis. So paying millions to the US in hard currency shouldn’t be easy for the country of around 42 million people. Since the overthrow of autocratic President Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019, Sudan has been trying to improve relations with the international community. An important goal for the transitional government was to be removed from the US terrorist list.
Trump wrote that the government of Sudan is currently making “great strides.” At times, it has recently been speculated that the United States would only remove Sudan from the list in exchange for normalization of relations with Israel. That would be another diplomatic victory for Trump ahead of the US presidential election in November. Washington is trying to get the Arab states or Muslim majority countries to officially recognize Israel. Trump’s tweet about Sudan made no mention of Israel on Monday.
