Sudan’s Foreign Minister: ‘Washington to lift sanctions in October’
According to the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, the US administration has promised Khartoum that the economic embargo on Sudan will be permanently lifted in October.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters in the Sudanese capital on Thursday that in a telephone call before the July 12, the US Deputy Secretary of State, pledged that the US sanctions on Sudan will be definitely be repealed by 12 October, if the cooperation between the two countries on the agreed five tracks continues at the same pace.
According to the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, the US administration has promised Khartoum that the economic embargo on Sudan will be permanently lifted in October.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters in the Sudanese capital on Thursday that in a telephone call before 12 July, the US Deputy Secretary of State, pledged that the US sanctions on Sudan will be definitely be repealed by 12 October, if the cooperation between the two countries on the agreed five tracks continues at the same pace.
Dr Ghandour added that “It is the first time in 20 years that a US report clearly indicates that Sudan is free of supporting terror. Although we are not in need of verification from anyone.”
On 12 July, the US State Department decided to postpone its decision about the lifting of the economic and trade restrictions on Sudan for three months, pointing to the need to discuss human rights, religious freedom, and Sudan’s commitment to UN sanctions on North Korea.
After temporarily suspending a number of sanctions measures against Sudan in January this year, the US administration said it would permanently repeal them if progress on five tracks were sustained over the subsequent six months: counter-terrorism cooperation, addressing the threat of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), ending hostilities in Darfur and the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile), improving humanitarian access, and ending negative interference in South Sudan.
“It is for the first time in 20 years that a US report clearly indicates that Sudan is free of supporting terror. Although we are not in need of verification from any,” Dr Ghandour said in a press conference in Khartoum following the return of President Al Bashir from a tour to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia
The Minister mentioned that Riyadh supports Sudan concerning the removal of the sanctions, and said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman “demanded to communicate with the US State Department, the Pentagon, the FBI, and the CIA to clear all the outstanding issues”.
(Sources: Sudan Tribune, Sudan Vision Daily, Radio Dabanga)
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