Sudan pays $335m compensation to be taken off US terrorism list
21 October, 2020
Sudan said on Tuesday it had transferred $335 million in compensation to American victims of militant attacks and their own families within a deal to own it removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The announcement by Central Bank Governor Mohamed Zainelabidine came a day after US President Donald Trump tweeted that he designed to lift Sudan from the list.
Acting finance minister Hiba Ali said Sudan needed to accelerate the adjustment of its forex rate within a package to tackle the country’s financial crisis.
The crisis has intensified in the 1 . 5 years since former president Omar Al Bashir was removed from office by his generals amid a wave of protests against his 29-year rule.
Ms Ali didn't give details but the Sudanese pound, the worthiness of which has been steadily falling against the dollar for months, regained some ground against the dollar after Mr Trump’s announcement.
He has not given detail on when his administration would notify Congress of its decision to take Sudan from the list.
Once removed, Sudan will be permitted to negotiate using its creditors the relief or restructuring of its $60 billion in foreign debt, and be readmitted to the international bank operating system from which it was cut off consequently of US sanctions.
THE UNITED STATES decision would also unlock vast sums of dollars in foreign assistance.
In the past couple of months, Sudan’s inflation raised to more than 200 per cent and its own currency lost a lot of its value.
Ms Ali also announced on Tuesday that Sudan was working with the united states to finalise the procurement of just one 1 million tonnes of wheat to help ease an acute bread shortage that has resulted in extremely long lines outside bakeries.
Sudan was added to the state sponsors of terrorism list in 1993 after Al Bashir’s government sheltered the late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and terrorist groups.
The united states was also implicated in the deadly 2000 attack on the US Navy's USS Cole off Yemen’s Arabian Sea coast, bombings in 1998 of the united states embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and a 1994 assassination attempt against Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia.
I don’t feel that normalising ties with Israel will be a large problem in Sudan
Sulaima Ishaq
Analysts said that the Trump administration could possibly be trying to persuade Sudan to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for removing its name from the terrorism list, triggering a split in the transitional government.
Sudan will not share borders with Israel, but has regularly been involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict to champion Palestinian rights and help Egypt, its northern neighbour that fought Israel, in four wars from 1948 to 1973.
“A schism is quite possible between your military and civilian parts of the federal government over the question of normalising relations with Israel,” said Sudanese analyst Rasha Awad.
“It really is widely suspected that understandings between Washington and Sudan’s top generals have already been reached to launch the normalisation process immediately after Sudan’s name is lifted from the list.
“I believe Sudan may be coming toward normalisation with Israel under great pressure from the military.”
But Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has publicly explained that such a move was too ideal for a transition government to make. Elections are due in 2022.
The UAE and Bahrain moved to normalise relations with Israel in the summertime. These were the first Arab nations to take action since Egypt and Jordan, in 1979 and 1994 respectively.
Sudan and Israel have already been inching towards better relations.
In February, Gen Abdul Fattah Al Burhan, head of the civilian-military Sovereignty Council, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda.
The meeting was soon accompanied by a decision to permit Israeli airliners to fly through Sudan’s airspace.
”I don’t think that normalising ties with Israel will be a big problem in Sudan,” said Sulaima Ishaq, a prominent Sudanese activist and academic.
“There is still a lot of support for the Palestinians but news of lifting Sudan’s name from the terrorism list has been met with widespread welcome, given our monetary crisis.”
Analysts have warned that heavyweight political groups including the Umma Party along with small leftist parties were opposed to the normalisation of relations with Israel.
However they say the military’s stand towards the move will most likely gain more excess weight through the support of a coalition of rebel groups that signed a peace deal with the Khartoum government this month.
The group, the Sudanese Revolutionary Front, is because of get seats on the Sovereign Council, the Cabinet and 25 % of the 300 seats in a proposed legislature, gaining considerable political influence.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com