WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would remove Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list after Sudan pays 335 million U.S. dollars to American victims.
“GREAT news! New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and BIG step for Sudan!” Trump tweeted.
Citing U.S. officials, media reported that Sudan’s removal from the list paves the way for the normalization between the Arab state and Israel, which Trump would tout as another foreign policy achievement as the presidential election less than three weeks away.
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in August urged the U.S. administration to separate between the process of removing Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and the issue of normalization with Israel.
The U.S. listed Sudan as one of the countries sponsoring terrorism in 1993.
Since the ouster of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, the pace of rapprochement between Khartoum and Washington has been accelerating despite many outstanding issues.