Qatar's Emir calls for Sudan to be removed from US terror list

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has repeatedly urged the US to remove his country from the list.

2 min read

25 September, 2019

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani spoke at the UNGA [QNA/Twitter]

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has urged the United States to remove Sudan from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, Sudanese state media reported.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has previously urged the US to remove his country from the list, claiming that the removal would be key to fostering economic prosperity under the country's new government.

While the US lifted most of its sanctions on Sudan two years ago, the process of removing all of the crippling sanctions and striking Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list ground to a halt when protests broke out in the country last December.

"For 30 years, we were isolated," Hamdok said last month.

"We were treated as a pariah state. We want to tell the world we are moving away from sanctions, issues of punishment and all that, to a Sudan that is coming back to the fold of normal nations."

Among Hamdok's key goals is to regenerate Khartoum's battered economy.

Both an end to conflict in Sudan and its removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list are key to the former UN economist's mission.

Khartoum is currently unable to receive aid from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank due to the listing.

The prime minister has previously said Sudan needs some $8 billion in aid over the course of the three-year transitional period.

Qatar's role in Sudan

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the emir expressed support for Sudan's transitional government which was inaugurated this month after August's landmark power-sharing deal between the military and protest leaders.

The Qatari leaders' speech comes at a time of uncertainty for the small Gulf nation's relationship with Sudan.

Under former President Omar al-Bashir, ousted by the military in April, Sudan courted support and aid from rival powers in the region including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

But Doha looked to have been sidelined by the generals after they deposed Bashir, with Khartoum instead accepting millions in aid from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the first countries to back Sudan's new military rulers in April.

Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are accused of supporting and financing the paramilitary force widely held responsible for the June massacre of more than a hundred protesters, as well as the recruitment of child soldiers to serve in Yemen.

The onset of Sudan's new transitional government, made up of both civilians and military officials, may witness a change in approach to Qatar's involvement in the country, with broadcaster Al-Jazeera being allowed to return to Sudan last month.

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