Date: Friday, 13 January 2017
http://www.voanews.com/a/us-to-ease-sudan-sanctions/3674018.html US Lifts Some Sanctions Against Sudan January 13, 2017 12:19 PM The Obama administration announced Friday that it will lift some financial sanctions against Sudan, citing "positive" actions made by the country over the past six months. The easing of sanctions, Obama said in a letter to Congress, comes after the Sudanese government stepped up in fighting terrorism, reducing conflict, denying safe haven to South Sudanese rebels and improved humanitarian access to people in need. The easing of sanctions, though, also is contingent on the continuation of the positive steps taken Sudan’s government over the next 180 days. “The 180-day delay period of the order's effective date with respect to removing these provisions is intended to encourage the Government of Sudan to sustain its efforts in these areas,” the letter reads. The United States first imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997, including a trade embargo and blocking the government's assets, for human rights violations and terrorism concerns. The United States layered on more sanctions in 2006 for what it said was complicity in the violence in Darfur. Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Bilal, speaking with VOA's James Butty, welcomed the news of the lifting of the sanctions because, he said, they "have had a devastating impact on the country and its people." He said sanctions increased "the misery of the people" who could not leave the country to get medical treatment or import technology. He said Sudan Airways was forced to shut down because it could no longer receive the technology it once did from the U.S. Bilal said the sanctions were not against the regime, but were instead "against human rights." U.S. officials said the lifting of the sanctions had no bearing on Sudan's designation by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide. In September, the State Department issued a statement welcoming Khartoum's cooperation in fighting Islamic extremist groups, without mentioning any specific development or reason for the public release. It said Sudan had taken "important steps'' to take on Islamic State and other terrorist organizations, adding that the U.S. would work with the country on security matters while pressing it on human rights and democracy. At the time, the department said the U.S. maintained grave concerns about Sudan's policies, notably its handling of unrest in the western Darfur region, but it described normalized relations as not out of the question.
