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Sudan is expected to be formally removed from the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism shortly, but is still awaiting action from Congress to provide immunity from past attacks.
President Donald Trump announced in October that he was excluding Sudan from the list, a step desperately sought by the nation’s new civilian-backed government as the designation severely hampered foreign investment.
As part of an agreement, Sudan agreed to $ 335 million to compensate the survivors and families of the victims of the twin 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, carried out when dictator Omar al-Bashir he was welcoming Al-Qaeda, and a 2000 attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen.
Sudan’s transitional government, which took office last year after Bashir’s ouster, also agreed to recognize Israel, an important target for Trump, though Khartoum has tried to downplay the connection.
Trump sent his notice to Congress on October 26, and under US law, a country is removed from the terrorist list after 45 days unless Congress objects, which it has not done.
A State Department spokesman did not confirm the date of Sudan’s formal impeachment, but said it would formally take effect when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signs a notice that will be published in the Federal Register.
US lawmakers broadly support the decision, but have failed to agree on a complementary goal for Sudan: to legally protect it from any further terrorism claims in US courts.
The families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks have asked lawmakers to reject the State Department’s proposal, saying they want to take legal action against Sudan.
“The 9/11 families do not ask for any special favors, only to be left alone to continue their long-standing demand against Sudan and other regional parties for supporting Al-Qaeda so that it can become the international terrorist organization that it has killed so many innocents. “said Jack Quinn, the families’ attorney.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have been at the forefront of criticism of the State Department’s agreement on Sudan’s legal immunity.
Schumer and Menendez, who respectively represent New York and New Jersey, home to most of the victims of September 11, said they have drafted two proposals, either of which are ready to pass this month.
The bills “overcome serious problems with the State Department’s deal with Sudan that has tragically pitted different groups of terror victims against each other,” they said in a statement.
The State Department spokesman said only that the agency was “continuing our discussions” with Menendez.
