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Sudan Tribune

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U.S. sanctions end expected after peace signing, Sudanese FM

WASHINGTON, Oct 02, 2003 (KUNA) — Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said on Thursday his country expects that the United States will lift its economic sanctions and take Sudan off its list of terrorism-sponsoring countries once a peace agreement has been signed between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.

Briefing reporters at the National Press Club, he said these two issues had been discussed extensively with the Bush administration and “the administration told us it is only waiting for the signing of a peace agreement.

“Accordingly, after the signing of a peace agreement we are expecting these sanctions to be lifted, although we did not reach agreement on a specific time but we are confident that all these sanctions will be lifted.”

Asked if that included being removed form the terrorism list, he said, “Everything.”

The foreign minister described as “historic” an agreement reached last week between his government and the udan People’s Liberation Movement and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM/A) on key issues relating to security arrangements during the six-year interim period after a peace agreement is signed.

Asked about the issue of Sudan’s unity as a state, he said the July, 2002, Machakos Protocol “made it quite clear that unity or secession is going to be entirely (the decision of) the southern Sudanese people. After six years they will decide whether they want to stay within a United Sudan or secede and to have an independent state.”

He said that after peace had been attained in the decades-long north-south conflict, there would be great opportunities for American and other investors because Sudan, “the biggest country in Africa, with a strategic location, has huge resources in oil, agriculture and minerals.”

He said he had attended the UN General Assembly, met with U.S. government officials and would meet with members of the U.S. Congress, including the Black Caucus, on Thursday, before leaving tomorrow for Khartoum.

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