Washington, DC.
October 6, 2017 (Nyamilepedia) – Today, the United States lifted longstanding comprehensive sanctions on Sudan.
According to US state department, the Khartoum based NIF regime has “sustained positive actions to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, improve humanitarian access throughout Sudan, and maintain cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism”.
Speaking to media, the State Department Spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, confirms that the sanctions will be lifted next Tuesday, October 12th, however, she maintains that some targeted sanctions will remain and Sudan will still remain on the US list of “states sponsors of terrorism”
The US sanctions on Sudan have been enforced for the last 20 years since 1997 and although they had huge impacts on Sudan’s economy, the sanctions did not end the war in Darfur and Nuba mountain.
Observers, however, believe that the sanctions influenced South Sudan independence efforts and also helped improve humanitarian access to areas affected by the conflict.
Responding to this report, the Experts from the Enough Project calls on the US government to create a new policy framework to address the core issues that led Khartoum to be sanctioned.
“Now that sanctions have been lifted, the Trump administration should create a completely new policy framework which aims to address the core issues that led the regime to be sanctioned in the first place. The focus should be on promoting fundamental human rights and religious freedoms, countering grand corruption, and achieving peace in Sudan’s various war-torn regions. But these serious policy objectives need serious leverage, and thus this new policy framework should be tied to a new set of smart, modernized network sanctions — including asset freezes targeting a network of individuals and entities, rather than a single person — that spare the Sudanese public and target those in power responsible for mass atrocities, the demolition of churches, obstruction of humanitarian aid, jailing and torturing journalists, and undermining of peace efforts.” Said John Prendergast, Founding Director at the Enough Project
According to Dr. Suliman Baldo, a Senior Advisor at the Enough Project, Sudan now has to own blames for its economic downfall and suffering of the Sudanese people orchestrated by the brutality of President Bashir’s regime.
“With the comprehensive U.S. sanctions permanently lifted, the regime of President Omar al-Bashir will have no room to continue to shift blame to the U.S. sanctions for the devastating effects on the Sudanese people of its own grand corruption and gross mismanagement of the economy. The regime will need to own the outcomes of its own greed and brutality.” Said Dr. Suliman Baldo, Senior Advisor at the Enough Project,
Another Expert, Omer Ismail, calls on Trump Administration to keep a close watch on Bashir’s regime to ensure that the Khartoum-based government does not return to its brutal past.
“Now that the U.S. has lifted the sanctions on Sudan, it is incumbent upon the Trump Administration to see to it that Sudan does not return to its policies that prompted the sanctions in the first place. Sudan should be pressured to continue to improve its human rights record, respect religious freedom, and chart a way for a peace process that is credible and just.” Said Omer Ismail, Senior Advisor at the Enough Project.
Read Enough Project’s recent reports on Sudan:
- The Missing Track: The case for a new policy framework between the United States and Sudan (June 2017)
- Sudan’s Deep State: How Insiders Violently Privatized Sudan’s Wealth, and How to Respond (April 2017)
- Border Control from Hell: How the EU’s migration partnership legitimizes Sudan’s “militia state” (April 2017)
For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact: Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, +1 310 717 0606, gh@enoughproject.org.
