WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is preparing to remove Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism to win a second foreign policy victory before the election, but U.S. courts have found that Khartoum was able to do so by risking retaliation for a terrorist attack.
Sudan has been on the list of terrorists since 1993 and, as a result, has been barred from receiving global aid that would help stabilize its new government and promote democracy. According to four people with direct knowledge of the scheme from the State Department, its delisting is expected to be widespread in the next few weeks.
It will also clarify the way Sudan will normalize diplomatic relations with Israel, the Trump administration helped cement the Jewish state with the UAE and Bahrain this month, and President Trump celebrated at the White House last week. Promise that other nations will join in soon.
A full diplomatic agreement between Israel and Sudan would be difficult, if not impossible, when Sudan is on the list of American terrorists.
But the administration intends to proceed without congressional legislation that would guarantee immediate compensation to victims of the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the Destroyer Cole and their families in 2000, with a settlement of 33 5,335 million. Sudan to shelter terrorists carrying out the attacks.
Riz Khaliq, a former Commerce Department official who was injured in the attack on the US Embassy in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, said it was basically enabling Sudan to be removed from the list without any penalties.
Mr Khalik said on Wednesday that there was no reason for Sudan to make the victims perfect in any way. “They’ve got what they want, and the victims affected by the list of terrorists have left high and dry.”
“It’s really painful and painful,” he added.
Once Congress defends Sudan from legal claims for past terrorist attacks, the new scheme will put the money in an escrow account. But Congress refused to include legal protections in the spending bill negotiated this week, pending, certainly delaying payments – if all of that – after the Nov. 3 election.
Officials warned that the final decision to remove Sudan from the list of terrorists must be upheld by the White House.
But President Trump is not expected to wait for congressional action.
Six weeks before the election, Mr. Trump cited the warm relations between the Middle East and one-time rival states of North Africa as an example of his administration’s diplomatic prowess. Five additional countries are considering formal formal relations with Israel, the president said Sept. 15, and officials have said they include Sudan.
Mr Trump said at the White House last week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signed agreements with the UAE and Bahrain with the deputy Sudanese ambassador in the audience before Mr Trump said last week. “And this is a very strong agreement. This is very strong. This is truly peace. This is serious peace. ”
Making diplomatic cement between Israel and Sudan would be a coup for the administration given their turbulent history.
It was in Khartoum after the Arab-Israeli war in 1967 that the Arab League declared its “No Three” resolution, opposing peace, negotiations and Israeli recognition. It was widely recognized in the Arab world until Egyptian President Anwar al-Saddat made a historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977. As of last week’s order, Egypt and Jordan were two Arab states with formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
In 1993, officials concluded that Sudan had been placed on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism after the government of then-leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir provided shelter and other support to Hezbollah and Palestinian groups. Iran, North Korea and Syria – the other three countries, are on the State Department’s list of countries that ban aid from the United States and effectively the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
But in 2001, after Sudan cut diplomatic ties with Iran, the United States began easing sanctions against Khartoum in retaliation for its cooperation in counter-terrorism operations and an end to military strikes against Sudanese civilians. This dentist was boosted last year by efforts to support democracy in a new international transitional government that ousted Mr al-Bashir.
Israel has developed its own unique relationship with the country. In February, Mr. Netanyahu paid a visit to Uganda, arranged by the United Arab Emirates, for talks with Sudan’s de facto leader, Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. In the days that followed, Sudan began to fly Israeli commercial aircraft into its airspace.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has the right to remove Sudan from the list of terrorists without congressional approval. In a meeting with Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok in Khartoum last month, Mr Pompeo described Sudan in a delisting, saying “it is a crucial bilateral priority for both countries.”
The two men also “discussed positive developments in Sudan-Israel relations,” according to a State Department summary at the meeting. They spoke again on 12 September.
Christopher Curran, Sudan’s lawyer in Washington, said the transitional government “wants to rejoin the community of honorable nations.” In a statement on Wednesday, he said Sudan would enter into international trade, reconcile past obligations and “surrender as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
More recently, Mr Pompeo has indicated that he will wait for Sudan to remove him from the list of terrorists until payment for the bombing is guaranteed.
But as a compromise was reached between the United States and Sudan in Congress, officials said Mr. Pompeo was ready to move on.
Sudan insists it has es 5 million in esc ભો 5 million in compensation for escrow victims unless it gets legal immunity from Congress to defend itself from new financial claims for past terrorist attacks. According to a representative of the country’s government, Sudan’s money is unlikely to be indefinite, given its impoverished poverty, a rapidly weakening economy and અને 60 billion in international debt.
The fragility of the years-long process of promoting stability in Sudan and compensating the victims of terrorism took the bipartisan group of senators by surprise, who in September. The 14th letter noted the United States as a “rare opportunity” to “help move the country away from the regime.” For decades, it supported terrorism and eroded independence. “
But Congress is divided over the administration’s approach.
Some legislators objected to the unequal distribution of payments to victims of the East African embassy bombings that would award more American citizens than Kenyan and Tanzanian employees – almost all blacks – who were foreign nationals at the time of the attack.
In addition, the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks are demanding compensation because Sudan has long been a stranger to al Qaeda. Supported by legislators representing the region, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrats and minority leaders, those families have raised widespread objections to the immunity law before their legal cases against Sudan are resolved.
“Congress should not deny the families of the September 11 victims in court,” said Mr. Alex Nguyen, a spokesman for Mr. Schumer.
Congressional officials said it was possible that a last-minute deal could be struck – in which some of the 9/11 victims ‘families would qualify for an additional માંથી 1 billion from the Department of Justice’s victims’ fund.
But it would be difficult to allow this before the election, and some of those families questioned why the United States would cut off Sudan’s benefits from its list of terrorists and impose payments.
“Foreign governments that have supported and harbored terrorists should not be given free passes by any administration, Congress or the global community,” said Lori Van Enken, Mindy Kleinberg and Kristen Breitweiser, whose husbands were killed in the September 11 attacks. In a statement. “They must be held accountable for their actions.”
There is also some opposition in Sudan to forming an alliance with Israel, especially among the liberal-leaning officials in the changing government, who have defended the Palestinians’ demands for a sovereign state for years.
During a meeting in Khartoum last month, Mr Hamdok told Mr Pompeo that Sudan’s transitional government had no mandate to normalize relations with Israel and instead focused on stabilizing the country before the 2022 democratic elections.
But more recently, senior Sudanese officials have reluctantly acknowledged that agreeing to normalize relations with Israel could be the price of getting off the list of American terrorism, and Washington, Washington and the people of Khartoum who are familiar with the discussions.
“One should wonder whether the Sudanese have a genuine interest in relations with Israel, the protests have caused a stir in Khartoum, and the state sponsor of the terror list is more interested in the present benefits,” Steven said. Cook said. , Council Foreign not a Middle East and North Africa expert on foreign relations.
Mr Cook said: “He’s clearly driving them, and he clearly knows that the best and easiest way to get there is through Tel Aviv.”
Declan Walsh contributed to the report from Cairo.
