THE U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said yesterday that President Donald Trump’s administration has removed Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that could help the African country get international loans to revive its battered economy and end its pariah status.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum said in a Facebook post that the removal of Sudan was effective as of yesterday, and that a notification to that effect, signed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, would be published in the Federal Register. It said the 45-day congressional notification period has lapsed.

The designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism dates back to the 1990s, when Sudan briefly hosted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other wanted militants. Sudan was also believed to have served as a pipeline for Iran to supply weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Delisting Sudan is also a key incentive for the government in Khartoum to normalize relations with Israel. The two countries have agreed to have full diplomatic ties, making Sudan the third Arab state — after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — to move to normalize relations with Israel this year. After Sudan, Morocco also established diplomatic ties with Israel.

Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, hailed the move as “a historic decision” by Trump’s administration. He tweeted yesterday that delisting Sudan would “contribute to supporting the democratic transition.”

In October, Trump announced that he would remove Sudan from the list if it follows through on its pledge to pay US$335 million to American terror victims and their families.

Sudan has agreed to pay compensation for victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks carried out by al-Qaida while bin Laden was living in Sudan.

(SD-Agencies)