Sudan urges US to relax Sudan economic sanctions

June 12, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Federal Minister of Finance and National Economy al-Zubair Ahmed al-Hassan has called for lifting the US economic sanctions from the whole of Sudan, the state-run SUNA said.

In press statements Monday, the minister expected lifting the economic sanctions from the whole country without exception, particularly following the signing of the two peace agreements in the south and Darfur.

He added that the sanctions should be lifted from all the Sudan, because lifting them from the south alone would not be of benefit, because the state deals in its external dealings as one economic unit through one central bank.

The minister went on to say that exclusion or distinction of one part of the country is likely to harm the excluded part. He added that the government has not officially been notified with the lifting of the sanctions from the south.

Commerce, Trade and Supplies Minister in the Government of Southern Sudan, Anthony Lono Makana, said on Thursday 8 June that US administration decided to exempt Southern Sudan from economic sanctions imposed on Sudan since 1997.

“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.

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.

In October 1997, the U.S. imposed comprehensive economic, trade and financial sanctions against Sudan in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. Further sanctions, particularly on weapons, have been imposed since the 2003 outbreak of violence in the western Darfur region.

Relations have warmed between Washington and Khartoum since the January signing of a peace deal to end the 21-year southern civil war and Sudan’s improved cooperation in the war on terror. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Sudanese officials here in July, during which they reiterated calls for the sanctions to be lifted.

But the U.S. has maintained pressure on Sudan over its alleged role in supporting Arab militias known as the Janjaweed in a campaign of murder, rape and violence on African tribes people in Darfur. The U.N. estimates that 300,000 people have died, mainly through hunger and famine, while several million have been displaced.

(ST)