US to exempt South Sudan from economic sanctions
June 8, 2006 (JUBA) — The US is expected in the next month to exempt Southern Sudan from the economic sanctions it imposed on Sudan a few years ago, the Sudan Radio Service (SRS) reported.
Such decision will allow the southern Sudan business community to trade with the US, and facilite the economic development in the region. The decision is expected to come into effect next month (July).
Commerce, Trade and Supplies Minister in the Government of Southern Sudan, Anthony Lono Makana, told SRS that exempting Southern Sudan from economic sanctions will help boost trade between Southern Sudan and the USA.
“The American trade embargo has now been lifted on Southern Sudan. So that means the southern Sudan business community can be able now to trade with the Americans. We can export our raw materials to America and American business people can come to invest and trade in southern Sudan”, Makana said.
The South Sudan minister just returned from the US after he was invited by the World Bank to the recent annual private sector forum in Washington. There, Makana spoke on poverty eradication in Southern Sudan and the role of women in private sector development.
Makana says he discussed with US officials, including congressmen, issues that contributed to the lifting of the trade sanctions on Southern Sudan.
During his visit to Washington in November last year, Sudanese Vice president and southerner leader Salva Kiir discussed the sanctions issue with the US officials. The American administration promised to issue an order of exemption on the trains and locomotives.
Akol said this was because the peace deal “requires a tremendous transportation capability which can be provided only by railways and due to the unavailability of the spare parts, those trains are not operating at present.”
At that time, the Sudanese Foreign minister dismissed reports saying only South Sudan will be exempted from sanctions
In 1997, the US Congress passed into law a bill that placed economic sanctions on the Sudan. The sanctions block bilateral trade and prevent U.S.-based firms investing in Sudan.
(ST)