US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would seek to end UN sanctions on Sudan over the Darfur conflict even though President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending a state of emergency regarding the “unusual and extraordinary” threat posed by the country.
The promise is another sign that the US is eager to reward Sudan after it agreed to recognise Israel -- a decision made at the urging of Mr Trump's administration as it moved to delist Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Mr Pompeo said the year-old civilian-backed government had made "substantial improvements" in human rights, including in Darfur -- the parched western region where the former dictatorship carried out a scorched-earth military campaign.
"The United States is committed to working with the Sudanese government and our international partners to identify circumstances that could result in lifting sanctions related to the Darfur conflict at the earliest opportunity," Pompeo said.
"We have already begun consultations at the UN with this objective in mind."
Sudan's new government a month ago signed a landmark agreement with rebels that have been active in Darfur as well as the southern states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
In 2005, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo, a ban on travel and a freeze on assets of anyone found to have inhibited peace efforts in Darfur.
The then US administration of George W Bush had supported international action on Darfur, which it characterised as genocide against the region's mostly black people.
Sudan has been eager for the removal of international sanctions, especially the US designation that it is a state sponsor of terrorism, which has severely impeded investment.
Trump started the process to delist Sudan after the new government agreed to recognise Israel and deposited $335 million in compensation for survivors and families of victims of attacks dating from the reign of dictator Omar al-Bashir, who had welcomed Al Qaeda.
But Mr Trump on Monday also signed an executive order to maintain the state of national emergency to counter the “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the actions and policies of the Government of Sudan.”
The order was first placed on Sudan in 1997 by the US and in 2006 due to the conflict in Sudan. In 2017 the US said that while Sudan made positive steps that improved conditions, the order was maintained although it was revised to remove some measures.
“Despite recent positive developments, the crisis constituted by the actions and policies of the Government of Sudan that led to the declaration of a national emergency… has not been resolved,” the order signed by Mr Trump on Monday stated. “These actions and policies continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency.”
