Next period crucial to Sudan-U.S. relations: envoy
August 25, 2108 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Ambassador to Washington Mohamed Atta al-Mawla has called for the need to promote relations with the United States.
Speaking at the party, al-Mawla said the next period would be crucial to the bilateral relation between Khartoum and Washington.
He underlined the need to seek to remove Sudan’s name from the U.S. list of states sponsors of terrorism.
Last February, President Omer al-Bashir appointed Atta as Ambassador at the Foreign Ministry days after he was removed from his position as director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).
He arrived in Washington last month to take up his duties as Sudan’s ambassador to the U.S.
In October 2017, Washington decided to lift economic sanctions on Sudan in line with a five-track framework reached by the two countries in December 2016.
Khartoum, accordingly, authorized humanitarian access to civilians in Darfur and unilaterally declared a cessation of hostilities in Darfur, the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.
The two countries agreed to resume talks on the normalization of bilateral talks and the lift of remaining sanctions particularly Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorist groups. The measure is crucial to get a debt relief and allow Sudan to get
international aid to build its economic infrastructure.
In November 2017, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, John Sullivan, was in Khartoum to launch the second phase of the normalization process and pointed to the need for reforms on human rights and religious freedom.
Also, the two countries agreed to engage in written exchanges for Sudan’s removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
(ST)