Sudan’s removal from terror list “is a process, not an event”: U.S. diplomat

October 2, 2019 (WASHINGTON) – U.S. top diplomat for Africa, Tibor Nagy, restated that his administration will not remove Sudan soon from the terror list saying “it is a process, not an event”, but he disclosed they will discuss with their allies way to support Sudan.

Nagy made his remarks in a telephone briefing with a number of journalists in response to the growing calls supporting Sudan removal from the state sponsor of terrorism list which limits its access to international financing institutions to rebuild the country after the collapse of the al-Bashir’s regime.

“Removing the state sponsor of terrorism designation is not an event it is a process,” he said in response to similar questions by the Sudan Tribune and the Wall Street Journal about hopes of delisting Sudan from the terror list.

“We can work with Sudan and new government to make that process goes as quickly as possible, but I cannot sit here today and give you dates, how long, when it will happen, what, because there is a number of legal constraints that tight up this process,” he added.

After the appointment of Abdallah Hamdok as Sudan’s first prime minister of a transitional government, last August a U.S. senior official told reporters on the cover of anonymity that Washington would test the new transitional authority before to cancel the designation.

In his statements on Wednesday, Nagy didn’t refer to the testing of Khartoum’s commitments to democratic change but insisted on the procedural aspect before to say they sympathize with the calls to delist Sudan.

“I will sympathize with all of our friends around the world for calling for an end to the state sponsor of terrorism on Sudan. The United States has to follow the legal process”.

The American diplomat further said they have a “very collaborative relationship” with the Sudanese government and the U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Donald Booth is playing an “extremely energetic and effective” role.

Also, he disclosed that his government will host a Friend-of-Sudan meeting to discuss ways to support Hamdok’s government.

“We will be hosting here in Washington DC in the next couple of weeks the next Friends-of-Sudan meeting, which we in the United States started shortly after the events took a positive turn (in April 2019)”.

“We will get together and will discuss who can do what to help Sudan succeed”.

(ST)