Norway, UK and UN welcome permanent lifting of sanctions on Sudan
October 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The two other members of the Sudan South-Sudan Troika countries, Norway and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations agencies in Khartoum welcomed the permanent lifting of sanctions on Sudan.
“This is a historic decision that will pave the way for more inclusive economic development for Sudan’s people,” said a joint statement released on Saturday welcoming the awaited-repeal of sanctions on Sudan announced on Thursday.
“We congratulate the Government of Sudan on this decision, which reflects their efforts to make improvements in a number of areas, such as cessation of hostilities, improved humanitarian access and cooperation on counter-terrorism,” further reads the statement.
The two countries, which together with the U.S. facilitate the ongoing African Union process for peace in Sudan, underscored that there is a number of challenges remain in the east African country.
“In particular the ongoing conflicts in Darfur and the Two Areas, and human rights violations, including restrictions on freedom of religion and belief.”.
The State Department on Thursday said any further normalisation in the bilateral relations with Sudan requires continued progress by the Sudanese government.
Moreover, he stressed that his administration is prepared to use “additional tools” to put pressure if any Khartoum regresses on the achieved progress in the five areas of the framework agreement signed by the two countries or takes “negative actions on other areas of concern”.
The American administration plans to continue talks with Khartoum on the Sudan’s removal from the list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorism.
Sudan can only benefit from debt relief and receive international development assistance if its name is removed from this list.
UN WELCOMES SANCTIONS RELIEF
Also, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Sudan welcomed the permanent revocation of the economic 20-year embargo on Sudan in a statement issued from Khartoum on Saturday.
“The UNCT recognizes all the collective efforts exerted by all parties, especially the Government of Sudan who in the past nine months has demonstrated through concrete progress the country’s interest in improving humanitarian access throughout the country,” read the statement.
The United Nations agencies working in Sudan further said they continue to engage the Government of Sudan to enable further cooperation on humanitarian and development priorities to improve stability in the country.
(ST)