Barack Obama was accused of making “a deal with the devil” after he eased sanctions against Sudan on Friday, reversing two decades of policy towards an Islamist regime that massacred its own people and sheltered Osama bin Laden.

The American president signed an executive order that, by relaxing a 20-year-old trade embargo on Khartoum, represents the culmination of a grand rapprochement by his administration towards “rogue” regimes like Iran, Cuba and Burma.

US officials characterised what is likely to be Mr Obama’s last significant diplomatic initiative at the White House as a reward for progress made by Sudan in countering terrorism, sharing intelligence and killing fewer civilians in the Darfur region and other conflict areas.