US Assistant Secretary of State: ‘Sudan is now a partner we can cooperate with’

US Assistant Secretary of State Tibor Nagy really wants Sudan to succeed but removing it from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism will take time, he claims. “That is a process, not an event.”

Speaking to journalists by phone Nagy said: “For decades the USA has viewed Sudan as a very problematic country, as a source of instability, as a state exporting terrorism. That is why it was on the state sponsored terrorism list. US Congress and administrations therefore put together laws that restricted what we could and could not to with Sudan.”

Nagy sees “total change today”. “The US sees Sudan as a partner now. The government of Prime Minister Hamdok is one that we can cooperate with. We are working with international partners to make sure Sudan can succeed, because we see Sudan now as transforming into a country which will promote stability in the region. We hope to have full normal relations with Sudan. We hope for a very prosperous Sudan that will afford its own citizens every opportunity and every possible benefit.” Nagy visited Sudan himself in June.

Speaking about removing Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism Nagy said “that is a process, not an event”. “We can work with the new Sudanese government to make that process go as quickly as possible. But I cannot give you dates and when will happen what, because there a legal constraints tied up in this process. I sympathise with all of our friends around the world who call for a removal of the state sponsored terrorism list, but the USA has to follow the legal process”, Nagy said, referring to an internal US legal process.

Stressing that the United States has a very cooperative relation with the new Sudanese government, Nagy continued: “We have an extremely energetic Special Envoy for Sudan, Ambassador Donald Booth. He is always on board of an airliner, from country to country, from conference to conference.”

Friends of Sudan

Nagy announced that “in the next couple of weeks” the United States will host a meeting of the Friends of Sudan group, a group of countries and international bodies as the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations that “was set up after the events took a positive turn”.

“We will get together and really discuss who can do what to help Sudan succeed. In ancient Rome there was a senator who ended every speech saying that Carthage must be destroyed. I end every speech with: Sudan must succeed.”  

At a speech in Khartoum yesterday Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok repeated his call on the international community to contribute to removing Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, the official Sudanese News Agency SUNA reports.

Hamdok spoke at the Stakeholder Dialogue Conference in Sudan, which is organised by the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House and brings together experts from Sudan and abroad.

The conference will discuss durable peace as a basis for sustainable economic recovery, consolidating economic legitimacy, strengthening anti-corruption efforts, recovering stolen assets, enhancing the banking system, providing finance, following up the financial recovery plan, setting a coherent monetary policy, restructuring of the general budget, containing the inflation, establishing a social safety network, and protecting the vulnerable segments of society.

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