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



The move is a milestone in the rehabilitation of a state which earned international opprobrium for its generous hospitality towards violent extremists such as Osama bin Laden and Carlos the Jackal in the 1990s, and its more recent involvement in war crimes against its own people.

The decision was widely expected. Last week the Trump administration removed Sudan from its controversial list of countries whose citizens travel to the US is severely restricted.

“The United States has decided to formally revoke a number of economically focused sanctions on Sudan,” a senior official told reporters in Washington on Friday night.

The US Treasury published a formal note explaining the decision and stressing that many sanctions remain in place shortly afterwards.

Officials cited improvement on humanitarian access, on the mitigation of conflicts within Sudan and progress on counter-terrorism for the decision.

The Trump administration also secured a commitment from Sudan that it would “not pursue an arms deals” with North Korea, an official said. Sudan has long been suspected of military ties with North Korea, which is locked in a tense standoff with Washington over its missiles and nuclear weapons programs.

Sudan also has recently distanced itself diplomatically from Iran, another state with strained relations with the US.

“This is a first step towards a full normalisation of relations between Sudan and the West. It is not going to presage a massive stream of money going into the country but is a big moment psychologically,” said Magnus Taylor, a Sudan analyst with the International Crisis Group.

Shortly before leaving office, Barack Obama temporarily eased penalties that had been in place for two decades against the African nation.

In July, the Trump administration postponed for three months a decision on whether to remove the sanctions completely, setting up a 12 October deadline.

Though Sudan will remain, for now, on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, alongside Iran and Syria, and thus subject to other restrictive measures, the new decision reflects a US assessment that the state has made progress in meeting Washington’s demands, including cooperation on counter-terrorism, working to resolve internal conflicts and allowing more humanitarian aid into Darfur and other rebellious border areas.

Khartoum’s decision to stop, or at least limit, military and other support for proxies in South Sudan, and to allow relief to cross its territory to reach the needy in the war-torn state played a significant role in the decision, analysts believe.

The UN said earlier this year that it backed an end to the sanctions and hoped the US would make a “positive decision” allowing for more humanitarian aid access across war zones.

Officials in Washington have also been encouraged by help Khartoum has offered to regional efforts to hunt what remains of the Lords Resistance Army, a brutal Ugandan rebel group.

“The decision is not just about geopolitics. It’s also about ending conflict and improving the lives of people in significant need as well,” Taylor said.

Sudan has also cooperated in a counter terrorist push against Islamic militants.

Rights groups have raised concerns that lifting sanctions would reward a government still accused of abuses.

“It’s a serious mistake for these sanctions to be lifted permanently when Sudan has made no progress on human rights,” said Andrea Prasow, deputy director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch.

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.

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

However, the veteran leader 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.

Sanctions were initially imposed on Sudan in 1997 due to its role as a host and backer of terrorist groups including al-Qaida, which was 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.

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

Sudan has swapped its relationship with Iran for one with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim monarchies, signing up to join in the Saudi-led airstrike campaign in Yemen.