WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 — US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would remove Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list after Sudan pays US$335 million to American victims, reported Xinhua news agency.
“GREAT news! New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to US terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and BIG step for Sudan!” Trump tweeted.
Citing US officials, media reported that Sudan’s removal from the list paves the way for the normalisation between the Arab state and Israel, which Trump would tout as another foreign policy achievement as the presidential election is less than three weeks away.
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in August urged the US administration to separate between the process of removing Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism and the issue of normalisation with Israel.
The US listed Sudan as one of the countries sponsoring terrorism in 1993.
Since the ouster of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, the pace of rapprochement between Khartoum and Washington has been accelerating despite many outstanding issues.
