TerrorismU.S. Removes States from List of Terrorism-Supporting States

Published 14 December 2020

Since the April 2019 fall of Sudanese dictator Omar Al-Bashir, the expectation was that the United States would remove Sudan from the Terrorism-Supporting States list. On Monday, 14 December, the United States has formally done so.

Since the April 2019 fall of Sudanese dictator Omar Al-Bashir, the expectation was that the United States would remove Sudan from the Terrorism-Supporting States list. On Monday, 14 December, the United States has formally done so.

The announcement was made by the U.S. embassy in Khartoum in Facebook posting.

Sudan had been on the list since 1993.

With the removal of Sudan, there are only three countries remaining on the list: North Korea, Iran, and Syria.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed the notification revoking the designation of Sudan as a terrorism-supporting state, and Congress will now have forty-five days to debate the move and vote against it, but unless there is a veto-proof majority for rejecting the move, Sudan will be taken off the list in a month and a half.

The remove from the list would allow Sudan to seek foreign investments from foreign governments and companies in its crumbling economy.

Pompeo said that the removal of Sudan from the list represented “a fundamental change” in relations between the two countries.

President Donald Trump announced on 19 October that the United States was planning on removing Sudan from the list. Four days later, on 23 October, it was announced that Sudan was normalizing its relationship with Israel. It now appears that the price Sudan had to pay for being removed from the list was a recognition of Israel.

On 26 October Trump notified Congress of his plan to remove Sudan from the list, and the measure went into effect today.

The relationship between the United States and Sudan began to improve under Obama, with Sudan agreeing to take tougher measures against terrorists operating in Sudan, and support peace moves in South Sudan.

When Al-Bashir was removed from power in 2019, the cooperation between the United States and Sudan accelerated.

Al-Bashir is under house arrest in Khartoum, and the International Criminal Court in The Hague is moving toward putting him trial for war crimes, probably in the coming spring.