Sudan team to visit US to remove from Khartoum 'terrorism list'

A delegation from Sudan will head to Washington to seek the country's removal from a US 'terrorism list'.

2 min read

21 April, 2019

Sudan's military is seeking to have the country removed from the terror list [Getty]

Sudan will send a delegation to Washington in a bid to have the country removed from the US' state sponsors of terrorism list, army ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said Sunday.

"A delegation will travel to the United States this week or next week to discuss removing Sudan from its state sponsors of terrorism list," Burhan said in a televised interview.

The US lifted its 20-year-old trade embargo on Sudan in 2017 but kept it on its state sponsors of terrorism list along with Iran, Syria and North Korea.

This was imposed on Khartoum in 1993 due to its links to Al-Qaeda with founder Osama bin Laden living in the country between 1992 and 1996.

The US has applauded the country's new military leader for freeing activists, and on Thursday announced plans to dispatch officials to Khartoum to encourage a transition to democracy.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said that on Thursday that Washington will "calibrate our policies based on our assessment of events".

However, the bid to delist Sudan from the state sponsor of terrorism list remained frozen.

"The will of the Sudanese people is clear: it is time to move toward a transitional government that is inclusive and respectful of human rights and the rule of law," she said.

The US was seeking to "get the military folks out of centre stage" and "back to being responsible for security, nothing else", one source told AFP.

"Longer term is to make absolutely sure that whichever group is going to be responsible for the transition prepares a transition implementation that will lead to a truly democratic government that will reflect the will of the Sudanese people."

Sudan has been rocked by months of protests against the regime, leading to President Omar al-Bashir's overthrow earlier in April.

A military council has taken over promising to transition the country to democracy within two years, although activists are sceptical that the military will willingly hand over power to civilian control.