PM Hamdouk: ‘Hope US sanctions against Sudan will be lifted soon’

Adressing the 74th session of the UN General Assembly on Friday, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdouk called on the United States to remove Sudan from its list of counties that sponsor terrorism, and to lift all sanctions against Sudan. “The US should not continue punishing the Sudanese people for a sin committed by the former regime, a regime that the Sudanese people toppled.”

Speaking at a special ‘Sudan event’ to drum up support for Sudan, organised in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly where all world leaders are invited, Hamdouk said he has held useful talks with many US officials last week in New York. He hoped an agreement with the United States to be removed from Washington’s state-sponsored terrorism list could be reached “very soon”, news agency Reuters reported.

“The new Sudan that is upholding governance and democracy is not a threat to any nation in the world,” Hamdouk said.

World Bank

As long as Sudan is on the US state-sponsored terrorism list, the country can get no support from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Hamdouk has asked the World Bank for $ 2 billion to stabilise and rebuild the economy.

The United States imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1993 for “repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism”. Some sanctions have already been lifted since October 2018.

The US State Department “was not immediately available for comment on Friday”, Reuters reported.

United Nations

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was present at the Sudan event and expressed support for Hamdouk’s efforts. He called for the immediate removal of Sudan from the United States state-sponsored terrorism list, lifting of all economic sanctions and “mobilizing massive financial support for development in Sudan to make the current political gains durable”.

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