Sudan says US links peace deal to terror blacklist

CAIRO, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Washington has pledged to remove Sudan from a blacklist of states it says sponsor “terrorism” once Khartoum signs a peace deal to end its civil war, Sudan’s foreign minister said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Sudan’s government and southern rebels, which have been fighting for more autonomy since 1983, adjourned the latest round of peace talks in Kenya on Friday after clinching a key security deal that cleared a major obstacle to resolving the conflict in Africa’s largest country.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in New York he had asked U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to remove Sudan from the U.S. list of “state sponsors of terrorism”.

“He (Powell) pledged Sudan’s name would be lifted from the list of states that sponsor terrorism and relations with Khartoum would be normalised after the signing of a peace agreement,” Ismail said.

Sudan is one of seven states Washington considers state “sponsors of terrorism”.

In 1998, the United States fired missiles at a factory in Sudan which it said was involved in making components for chemical weapons and partly financed by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant hosted by Sudan from 1991 to 1996.

But Washington says Sudan has made progress towards rejoining the international fold since then and has praised its cooperation since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In broad terms, Sudan’s civil war pits rebels from the mostly animist and Christian south against the Islamist government in the north. The conflict is complicated by issues including oil, race and ethnicity.