UN Secretary-General calls for Sudan to be removed from US terror list

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has encouraged the international community to support Sudan, and added his voice to calls to remove Sudan from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

“Sudan is a matter of great hope for us. I believe that what was possible in the dialogue in Sudan demonstrates that all political conflicts can be solved by dialogue when there is political will for that, and this should be a lesson for everywhere else in the world, Guterres said at a press conference on Wednesday at the start of the 74th session of the General Assembly in New York.

“It is time now for the international community to support Sudan. Sudan is in a very dire economic situation, in a very dramatic economic situation.

“I hope that all the restrictions that exist about Sudan, namely, the classification as a country that support terrorism and sanctions, will be quickly removed,” Guterres said.

“And I hope that there will be a massive mobilisation of resources to support Sudan overcome the extremely difficult economic situation that the country has, because, if that doesn't happen, obviously, we risk that the gains in democracy, human rights, and political solutions that were observed could be put into question.”

After meetings in Cairo today, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdouk is bound for New York tomorrow to participate in the UN General Assembly meetings.

In his appeal to remove Sudan from the US terror list, Guterres joins French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who pledged that France will join efforts to have Sudan back removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Earlier this month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday that Cairo is exerting efforts to remove Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The United States will first test the commitment of Sudan’s new transitional government to human rights, freedom of speech, and humanitarian access before it agrees to remove the country from the US state sponsor of terrorism list, a senior State Department official said last month.

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