Read on Twitter
Big announcement from @realDonaldTrump today. The President intends to remove #Sudan from the State Sponsor of Terror (SST) list. If finalized, it will be a big win for @SudanPMHamdok too. We at the @TheWorld radio program have been following this story. Here are some highlights: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1318251010595303424
Many people in #Sudan see the SST related sanctions and economic isolation as punishment for Bashir's crimes. "I think it’s high time that the Sudanese not be punished for the deeds that we have not committed” - Samahir ElMubarak, pharmacist & activist. https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-12-20/year-after-revolution-sudan-celebrates-still-faces-squeeze-sanctions
During #COVID19, some Sudanese in the diaspora saw the SST listing has hampering their relief efforts back home. “It’s a slow process that takes days and days, sometimes weeks, to transfer even $10,000” said @DrBakriAli, a businessman in the US. #Sudan https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-05-29/coronavirus-exposes-sudans-broken-health-care-system
But payments to terror victims has complicated SST removal. #Sudan owes billions in compensation + punitive damages. The issue went to the Supreme Court in Feb. "You do this act and you know you will pay for it" - Irene, survivor of 1998 embassy attack KE https://www.pri.org/file/2020-02-24/sudan-us-supreme-court
The US got pressure from all sides as they neared a deal with #Sudan to resolve the terror victim payments. Esp. from lawyers of foreign victims. "The substantial amount of compensation committed by Sudan demonstrates a good-faith effort" - State Dept https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-05-25/state-dept-nearing-deal-over-1998-terrorism-victims-can-sudan-pay-it
Recent US pressure on #Sudan to normalize ties with Israel also complicated things. "The Trump admin is looking for some foreign policy wins...it sees now #Sudan as fitting neatly into a broader narrative of Middle East peace" - said @_hudsonc https://www.pri.org/file/2020-08-25/pompeo-meets-sudanese-leaders-khartoum
No mention of Israel in the recent @realDonaldTrump announcement. So perhaps @SudanPMHamdok has temporarily maneuvered #Sudan out of that quagmire. I'm curious if the pressure from the US and UAE to normalize relations with Israel will continue no matter who wins the US election?
Regardless, as @AsstSecStateAF said in May... “The termination of the designation of SST is not going to be flipping a switch. It is a process involving several branches of the US govt." Congressional approval and review could take months #Sudan https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-05-25/state-dept-nearing-deal-over-1998-terrorism-victims-can-sudan-pay-it
Speaking of Congress. The process of removing #Sudan from the SST listing has been compared to similar efforts with Libya. In 2008, the US passed the Libyan Claims Resolution Act. Coincidently sponsored by Presidential candidate @JoeBiden (then a senator) https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/senate-bill/3370/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22libya%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=5
