The US government has eased sanctions against Sudan, in a step towards normalising relations with a designated terrorism sponsor whose leader has been indicted on war crimes charges.



US officials say the change in policy towards the east African state is a response to steps taken by the government towards improving humanitarian access and lowering violence internally, as well as “cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism and addressing regional conflicts”.

The moves come amid a general shift of alliances and diplomatic priorities in east Africa, as major world and regional powers seek influence in an unstable but important part of the continent.



“This is definitely a geopolitical decision. It is not about values, democracy and human rights,” said Ahmed Soliman, an expert in East Africa at Chatham House, the London thinktank.

President Omar al-Bashir, who took power in a military coup in 1989, faces genocide charges at the international criminal court.

However, the veteran leader has has been welcomed by leaders across Africa and there have been intensifying contacts between Khartoum and the European Union too, prompted largely by concerns over immigration.

The order signed by Barack Obama in the last days of his administration will allow US firms to trade in Sudan.

“Treasury’s sanctions are aimed at encouraging a change in behaviour, and in the case of Sudan, our sanctions were intended to pressure the Government of Sudan to change the way it treats its people,” said Adam J Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a statement.

Szubin said the decision aim “to further incentivize the Government of Sudan to continue to improve its conduct”.

The new US move is controversial. Amnesty International alleged last year that Sudanese government forces used chemical weapons against civilians, including babies and young children, in one of the most remote parts of the restive Darfur region as recently as September.

The group Human Rights Watch called the decision “inexplicable”, alleging that Sudan’s government continued to commit war crimes, while US-based campaigners called the new US policy “premature”.

“We will certainly seek to work with the US Congress to see some of these sanctions restored, modernised and codified in the coming months,” John Prendergast, director of the Washington DC-based anti-genocide group, the Enough Project, told Reuters.

Sanctions were initially imposed on Sudan in 1993 due to its role as a host and backer of terrorist groups including Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida, which was in effect based in Khartoum between 1991 and 1996. Targets in Sudan, including a veterinary medicine factory, were hit by US missiles following the double bombing of US embassies in east Africa in 1998.

Sudan, once a pariah state, has gradually shifted away from its role as a leader and supporter of Islamist movements over recent decades.

However, sanctions were continued in response 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. The United Nations says 300,000 people have died in the conflict and 2.7 million have fled their homes.

US officials say humanitarian access will be monitored and review mechanisms allow the easing of sanctions to be reversed.

Khartoum remains, with Syria and Iran, one of three states in the world designated as a sponsor of terrorism by the US and the White House has stressed that a broad set of economic and financial sanctions against Sudan remains in place.

The Sudanese economy, which has been hit by low oil prices, the secession of South Sudan and continuing internal crises, could receive a boost as a result of the US decision.

Magnus Taylor, a Nairobi-based analyst at the International Crisis Group, said many international powers had long wanted to work with Sudan but internal conflicts there had stymied hopes of improved relations.



“On the migration issue in particular, the international community now wants to work with Sudan and it is felt that isolation has not helped come up with solutions,” Taylor said.

It is unclear if the new diplomatic outreach – aimed in part at encouraging moderate voices – will be continued by the incoming Trump administration, which takes office on 20 January.

Officials told the Associated Press the new approach signalled an admission that years of limited US engagement with Khartoum had not produced the desired result.

Such an acknowledgement fits with a general pattern under Obama of rapprochement with states long seen as “rogue” or “antagonistic”, including Cuba, Iran and Myanmar.

It also fits a pattern of the US prioritizing security assistance, particularly the fight against Islamic extremism, or short-term contribution to stability over democracy when choosing key allies in much of Africa.

The US government hinted at a policy shift last autumn.

In September, the state department issued a statement welcoming Khartoum’s cooperation in fighting Islamic extremist groups, without mentioning any specific development or reason for the public release.

It said Sudan had taken “important steps” to take on Islamic State and other such organizations, adding that the US would work with the country on security matters while pressing it on human rights and democracy.

Sudan shares a border with Libya and Egypt, both troubled by Islamic militant activity linked to Isis.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last year that Israel was lobbying the US and Europe to improve relations with Sudan after Khartoum cracked down on shipments of suspected Iranian weapons to groups hostile to the Jewish state.

Sudan has swapped a relationship with Iran for one with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim monarchies.

The arrests of two Sudanese men in Saudi Arabia after they posted about their support for protests in their home country on Facebook reflects the warming of relations between Bashir’s government and the kingdom.

Sudan signed up to join in the Saudi-led airstrike campaign in Yemen in 2015 and was one of only three states to sever ties with Iran when the Saudi embassy in Tehran was torched in retaliation for the execution of prominent Shia cleric.

Bashir last week received an invitation from King Abdullah of Jordan to participate in the 28th Arab League Summit in Amman in March.



