The US President ordered to remove Sudan from the black list of state sponsors of terrorism, Reuters reported on Monday.
For Sudan, leaving from that list is an important milestone. The White House’s move could really help the African nation to receive international loans to restart its shattered economy and end its outsider status.
The US Embassy in Khartoum wrote on Facebook that the removal of Sudan was effective as of Monday, and that a notification to that effect, signed by US Secretary of State, would be published in the Federal Register. The US diplomatic mission added that the 45-day congressional notification period has lapsed.
Sudan was in the list of terror sponsors since the 1990s
In the early 1990s, Sudan briefly hosted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and wanted jihadists from different countries. The African nation was also served as a pipeline for Iran to supply weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign Council of Sudan, hailed the US decision as “historic decision” by the Oval Office. Delisting Sudan is also a key incentive for the government in Khartoum to normalize relations with Israel.
In October, Donald Trump declared plans on removing Sudan from the balcklist if it follows through on its pledge to pay $335 million to American terror victims and their families.
The African country has agreed to pay compensation for victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks carried out by al-Qaida while bin Laden was living in Sudan.
Under the October announcement, once the compensation money was deposited, the US leader was to sign an order removing Sudan from the terrorism list on which it has languished under strict Washington sanctions for almost three decades.
