US-Sudanese relations since 1996

KHARTOUM, Oct 21 (AFP) — US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Kenya Tuesday 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.

Sudan has featured on a US list of countries sponsoring international terror since 1993.

Here is a list of key events in relations between Washington and Khartoum since 1996.

1996

– Feb 7: The US embassy in Khartoum shuts and personnel are transferred to Nairobi amid security scares. In late January, the United Nations accused Sudan of supporting terror and ordered Khartoum to hand over the suspects behind a failed attack on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1995 in Addis Ababa.

1997

– Nov 4: Washington slaps full economic sanctions on Sudan for its alleged international terror links.

1998

– Aug 20: US cruise missiles destroy a pharmaceutical factory near Khartoum, following attacks on Washington’s embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam blamed on al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Washington says the al-Shifa factory was used to make chemical weapons and was linked to bin Laden, who stayed in Sudan between 1991 and 1996.

Khartoum’s protestations that the factory had nothing to do with chemical weapons turn out to be correct.

2000

– April 15: A US charge d’affaires heads to Khartoum.

– Aug 16: Khartoum says officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency have been in Sudan since June to investigate accusations that the government bankrolls terror.

– Oct 10: Washington blocks Sudan’s candidacy for the UN Security Council.

– Dec 7: The political charge d’affairs at the US embassy in Khartoum, Glenn Warren, is expelled after meeting members of the political opposition.

2001

– Feb 2: Khartoum calls for a new phase in relations with Washington as US President George W. Bush enters the White House.

– April 13: Sudan reopens its embassy in Washington.

– July 15: Khartoum lifts a ban on US officials apart from diplomats imposed since 1998.

– Sept 6: Bush unveils a “major” US initiative to end Sudan’s civil war. John Danforth is named US special emissary.

– Sept 12: Khartoum condemns the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, lends its full backing to the “war on terror”.

– Sept 28: The United Nations lifts sanctions imposed on Sudan in 1996. Washington abstains from the vote.

2002

– Jan 19: A US-brokered ceasefire accord between Khartoum and the rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army is reached in the Nuba mountains.

– Feb 4: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail makes his first visit to the United States.

– May 21: An annual report on terror from the US State Department slams Sudan, despite stressing its progress.

– July 2: President Omar al-Beshir meets the deputy US secretary of state for African affairs, Walter Kansteiner.

– Oct 21: Washington freezes the assets of 12 Sudanese groups.

2003

– Jan 10: Khartoum denies CIA accusations that Sudan has or is seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Sudan says it welcomes organisations wishing to verify its claims.

– March 23: US and British flags are burnt outside the Iraqi embassy in Khartoum in almost daily demonstrations to support Iraq as war clouds gather.

– May 22: The United States includes Sudan on a list of countries not fully cooperating with the war on terror.

– Sept 29: Sudan renews compensation demands following the 1998 US bombing.

– Oct 21: Powell arrives in Kenya to “encourage progress” in peace talks between Khartoum and the SPLA.