U.S. lifts sanctions on Sudanese cement company

March 9, 2016 (WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Wednesday removed a private cement factory from a blacklist of Sudanese firms and individuals subjected to economic sanctions.

OFAC posted a notice Wednesday to its website announcing the deletion from its sanctions list of “Atbara Cement Company Limited, P.O. Box 36, Atbara, Sudan”.

Atbara cement manufacturer was added to OFAC’s Sudan list in 1999 when it was owned by the Sudanese government.

In late 2002 the factory was privatized and sold to the African Development and Investment company based in Dubai and owned by three Arab businessmen: Sheikh Suleiman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi, Sheikh Saleh Kamel and Sheikh Ibrahim Mandarin.

One year later, Al-Rajhi who is also a Saudi philanthropist becomes the only owner of the cement company and decided to dedicate its revenue to charity works.

In April 2011 , Washington removed the private Bank of Khartoum from a blacklist established in 1997.

(ST)