Agreement Reached in Sudan, But United States Not Ready to Remove Sudan from Terrorism Supporter List

This past weekend, the military leaders of Sudan and the people’s opposition, led by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), reached an agreement towards forming a new constitution. The agreement outlines a 39 month transitional period, under which a “sovereignty council,” comprising five members of the military leaders (Transitional Military Council), five civilians selected by the FFC, and one mutually-selected civilian, and a “council of ministers [which will] consist of a president and no more than 20 ministers” elected by the sovereignty council, will lead the process towards installing the new form of government. United States Under Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale was in Sudan today, meeting with “the Transitional Military Council and Forces for Freedom and Change… [to] encourage full and timely implementation of the agreements reached… to create a civilian-led transitional government, and underscore [the United State’s] expectation that the transitional government will reflect the will of the Sudanese people.” Secretary Hale said the United States is “looking forward to engaging with a civilian-led government,” but is not ready to remove Sudan from the list of terrorism supporter countries. Designation as a terrorism supporting country imposes multiple sanctions on the country, including “restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales;… and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions.” Other members of the terrorism supporter list include: North Korea, Iran, and Syria.

1. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-politics/sudan-factions-initial-pact-ushering-in-transitional-government-idUSKCN1UU09R
2. https://www.dabangasudan.org/uploads/media/5d306eb7c2ab1.pdf
3. https://www.state.gov/under-secretary-for-political-affairs-david-hales-travel-to-somalia-kenya-and-sudan/
4. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-politics/u-s-not-ready-to-remove-sudan-from-sponsors-of-terrorism-list-idUSKCN1UX1XT
5. https://www.state.gov/state-sponsors-of-terrorism/