The United States on Monday formally removed Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, 27 years after the country was first blacklisted, paving the way for the normalization deal with Israel to be formalized.
The New York Times reported two weeks ago that the Sudanese leadership informed the American officials if Sudan is not be taken off the list by end of 2020, the African country will freeze the process of normalization with Israel.
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Sudan's Prime Ministers office on August 25, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) greets Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (R) in Khartoum
(Photo: AFP)
The U.S. embassy in Khartoum confirmed the decision via a Facebook post. "The congressional notification period of 45 days has lapsed and the Secretary of State has signed a notification stating rescission of Sudan's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation is effective as of today (December 14), to be published in the Federal Register," the statement said.
The designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism dates back to the 1990s, when Sudan briefly hosted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other wanted militants. Sudan was also believed to have served as a pipeline for Iran to supply weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced in October that he was delisting Sudan, which Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, said acted as an "incentive" to establish deplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
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Demonstrators in Sudan burning an Israeli flag in protest of the normalization with Israel
As part of a deal, Sudan agreed to pay $335 million to compensate survivors and victims' families from the twin 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, carried out when dictator Omar al-Bashir was welcoming Al-Qaeda, and a 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen's coast.
Sudan's transitional government, which took over last year following Bashir's overthrow, also agreed to recognize Israel.
Trump sent his notice to Congress on October 26 and, under U.S. law, a country exits the terror list after 45 days unless Congress objects, which it has not.