WASHINGTON – The State Department will lift Sudan’s list of countries sponsoring terrorism, clarifying the way for the fragile East African nation’s government to receive international aid and, possibly, normal relations with Israel – a diplomatic goal for President Trump ahead of the next election.
Mr. Trump announced the decision Monday, following a formal formal discussion between the United States and Sudan from 2018 onwards, after months of intensive negotiations by the White House.
The removal of Sudan from the list of terrorists was a necessary precedent for what became an advanced Arab state to broker official detention with Israel. Two U.S. officials said Sudan and Israel could normalize relations in a matter of days, once the details of the removal from the terror list are complete. The order of careful choreography was to soften criticism of the Israeli deal inside Sudan.
Mr Trump reminded voters of his foreign policy achievements, likening diplomacy to a peace deal that could ease tensions between generations in the Middle East and North Africa.
“The good news! Sudan’s new government, which is making great strides, has agreed to pay 33 5,335 million to the victims and families of U.S. terrorists,” he said. Wrote on Twitter. “Once submitted, I will remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Finally, a big step for justice and Sudan for the American people! ”
There are only three countries on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism – Iran, North Korea and Syria.
On the condition of being removed from the list, Sudan has agreed to pay 33 5,335 million to compensate victims of legal attacks on the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the Navy Destroyer Call in 2000. As long as the money remains in the escrow account, Congress has agreed to give Sudan immunity for other terrorist attacks.
Continue with Election 2020
Sudan has been on the list since 1993, when US authorities concluded that then-leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir had given sanctuary and other assistance to Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups, which the United States considers terrorists. U.S. courts have also ruled that Sudan was involved in the attacks on embassies and calls.
But officials in Sudan’s fragile transition government are divided over whether to formalize diplomacy with Israel – a situation the Trump administration introduced at 11 a.m. as part of a pre-election campaign to force Arab nations to abandon their historical animosity. Israel.
Just like last week, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok said he was opposed to them. He had previously warned that the prospect of pushing for an American-backed, pre-election agreement with Israel could spread unrest in his country, leading to a serious economic crisis, with annual inflation rising 212 percent last month. Food, bread and medicine.
“Washington Washington is very focused on what it wants to get out of this and is not sensitive to the challenges within Sudan,” said Cameron Hudson, who previously worked on Sudan issues at the State Department and is now a scholar in the Atlantic Council think tank.
It was in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when the Arab League declared its “Three No” resolution, opposing peace, negotiations and Israeli recognition. The resolution was widely recognized in the Arab world until 1977, when Egyptian President Anwar al-Saddat made a historic visit to Jerusalem.
Yet until last month, Egypt and Jordan were the only two Arab states to have formal diplomatic relations with Israel. That changed in September, when Mr. Trump helped cement the normal relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain, although both countries already had some security and economic ties with Israel.
Israel has also worked peacefully over the past year to warm relations with Sudan.
In February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to Uganda, arranged by the United Arab Emirates, for talks with Sudanese de facto leader, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. In the days that followed, Sudan began to fly Israeli commercial aircraft into its airspace.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo captured the meltdown in August. Traveling to Khartoum on the first official direct flight from Tel Aviv, he talked with Mr. Hamdok about both the daily with Israel and the removal of the terrorism list.
Sudanese officials described the encounter differently. Mr Pompeo told Mr Hamdok that his country would have to recognize Israel immediately if the long-running talks to remove Sudan from the US terrorism list were to succeed, a senior Sudanese official said on condition of anonymity.
As a further incentive, Mr. Pompeo offered 80 80 million in humanitarian aid to help the Sudanese fight the coronavirus epidemic, which fell out of Mr. Hamdok’s hands.
Since then, the Sudanese government has been torn apart by its desire to drop the list of terrorists as soon as possible, which will boost its terrifying economy, and fears that Israel’s recognition could disrupt political instability and the country’s fragile democratic transition.
For the Trump administration, it is part of a campaign to achieve foreign policy achievements in the wake of the US presidential election, and includes financial incentives for Sudan, which is considered to be the next country to recognize Israel.
Officials familiar with the latest offer to Sudan said it would include humanitarian aid to alleviate the country’s food shortage, a promise of 400,000 metric tons of wheat and a visit by a US economic delegation to consider possible investments in agriculture.
American aid to Sudan was limited by being on the terrorism list. This position also hinders the country’s ability to receive debt relief and international financial assistance and in turn stops foreign investment.
The United States has been on its own path of diplomacy with Sudan for years. After Mr al-Bashir cut ties with Iran in 2016, US officials began easing sanctions against Sudan in retaliation for its cooperation in ending counter-terrorism operations and military strikes against its citizens.
Negotiations to remove Sudan from the State Department’s list have escalated over the past 18 months, as Trump administration and congressional officials saw the opportunity to support democracy after the coup, when Mr al-Bashir was ousted.
“The people of Sudan have courageously risen to overthrow the long-serving dictator in 2019, and since then Prime Minister Hamdock and the transitional government have taken significant steps toward democratic reform,” Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Kuns said in a statement Monday. , Welcomes the decision to remove Sudan from the list.
But the politics of compensation for the victims has taken its toll.
Sep 20015 million will not be released from the escrow account until legislators confirm that Sudan should be held accountable for its role in complying with al Qaeda by September 11, 2001. American The courts have not ordered the country to pay the victims of the attack or their families.
There is also a variation on the unequal distribution of payments to victims of embassy bombings that rewards many American citizens rather than Kenyan and Tanzanian employees – almost all of whom are black – who were foreign nationals at the time of the attack.
With half of their nearly 45 million citizens living in poverty, Sudanese officials have said the country will not be able to pay the state more than the 335 million with which the state was in talks with foreign countries. That amount, too, will not be kept in the escrow indefinitely, before legislators rush for a resolution before being forced to reclaim it by Sudan – which could happen early next year, an official said.
Riz Khalik, a former Commerce Department official who was injured in the attack on the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, said the congressional controversy had reopened old wounds.
“It is obviously encouraging that Sudan is finally accepting responsibility for supporting the al-Bashir regime’s terrorism and trying to reform it,” Mr Khaliq said. “It seems that Sudan recognizes all that we have suffered as a result of the bombing, but our own Congress does not. It is painful that our Congress is behind us and does not seem to be doing this. “
Lara Jacques and Eric Smith reported from Washington to Washington and from Cairo to Declan Walsh.
