US would mull lifting sanctions if Sudan peace deal reached: Powell
NAIROBI, Oct 21 (AFP) — The United States would consider lifting sanctions on Sudan if Khartoum did more to fight terrorism and reached a deal to end two decades of civil war, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.
“With a complete and comprehensive agreement it makes it possible for us to review the various sanctions that are in place,” Powell told journalists flying with him before he landed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
“We would see a comprehensive settlement, hopefully with some more movement on our counter-terrorism concerns, (as) really opening a new day in our relationship with Sudan,” he said.
The highlight of Powell’s visit to Kenya is a meeting with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha and rebel leader John Garang, who are widely thought to be in the final stages of clinching a peace deal.
“I must say, over the last several years the Sudanese have been showing an increasing level of cooperation on counter-terrorism issues,” Powell added.
For the last 10 years, the United States has considered Sudan to be a sponsor of terrorism and accordingly has imposed a variety of sanctions against the Khartoum government.
“Would we start to move to normalise relations in the sense of having an elevated diplomatic presence in Khartoum?” the top US diplomat asked rhetorically.
“Certainly that would follow. (Although) I can’t tell you right now at what pace we would go up to full return of ambassadors and all that,” he said.
Asked what Khartoum could do to reverse its reputation as a state sponsor of terrorism, Powell said: “What I’d like to see them do is what I asked Syria to do and that is expel Hamas and PIJ (Palestianian Islamic Jihad) from having any presence whatsoever in Khartoum.”
Sudan’s civil war erupted in 1983 when the SPLA took up arms to end domination of the mainly Christian and animist south by the Muslim north. It has since claimed more than 1.5 million lives and displaced some four million people.
Natural resources, notably oil, have in recent years taken up a more central role in the conflict.