USA lifting sanctions on Sudan after two decades of embargo
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Oct 8, 2017
The exchange rate of the U.S dollar price has witnessed large fluctuations on the black market hours after Washington's decision to fully lift the economic sanctions on Sudan.
Sudanese officials are also subject to separate sanctions as a result of human rights abuses during the fighting in Darfur.
"We have received praise from both the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) for our efforts in this regard", Ahmed Abu Zeid told ANA. Officials in Sudan say that since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the Sudanese have been cooperating with US intelligence.
Omar al-Bashir, who took power in a military coup in 1989, faces genocide charges at the worldwide criminal court relating to extensive human rights abuses perpetrated by Sudanese forces against civilians in Darfur, the western region gripped by bloodshed since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of discrimination and neglect.
It came, she said, "in recognition of the Government of Sudan's sustained positive actions to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan".
The Sudanese government has also been on Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993, when the country briefly provided safe harbor for Osama Bin Laden and his then-nascent al-Qaeda.
The US State Department first placed the sanctions on Sudan in 1997.
Sudan also has recently distanced itself diplomatically from Iran, another state with strained relations with the US. Sudan has no formal relations with North Korea, and, as a senior administration official noted, the two states do not maintain embassies in each other's capitals.
"Sudanese leadership, government and people welcome the positive decision made by the U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to permanently lift the economic sanctions on Sudan", the statement said.
Shortly before leaving office, former President Barack Obama temporarily eased penalties that had been in place for 20 years against the African nation. Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for committing crimes against humanity over the conflict in Darfur, which started in 2003 and led to the killing and rape of thousands of civilians and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of others.
The U.S. official who disclosed the decision spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement on Friday.
