U.S. extends long-standing sanctions on Sudan; The Sudanese government is Furious
(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday extended sanctions on Sudan for another year, saying Khartoum’s policies had not yet improved enough to warrant their removal.
 |
2011sudan.msg.rel.pdf 56K View Download |
|
2011sudan.not.rel.pdf 9K View Download |
Obama’s order maintains several sets of U.S. sanctions imposed since 1997 which restrict U.S. trade and investment with Sudan and block the assets of the Sudanese government and certain officials.
The United States had offered Khartoum the chance to put relations on a better footing if it cooperated with the January referendum that set South Sudan on the path to declare its independence on July 9.
While the vote went off relatively smoothly, Khartoum and the South Sudan government in Juba have remained at loggerheads over the main oil-producing border state of South Kordofan, where rebels and government forces have repeatedly clashed since June.
Violence has also broken out in Blue Nile and Abyei states, while U.S. officials say they have not seen sufficient progress in western Darfur region, where mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Khartoum in 2003 leading to a harsh government crackdown that Washington and some activists labeled genocide.
Khartoum has denied the genocide charge, and repeatedly urged the United States to drop punitive measures against it which include its inclusion on an official U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The United States has so far taken some small initial steps to lift export controls on agricultural machinery to help Sudan’s struggling food sector, but has stressed that further progress is contingent on Khartoum’s behavior.
Washington has lifted sanctions on South Sudan, hoping to help the new country gain its economic footing. But it is still seeking to clarify implementation of sanctions on Sudan’s oil industry, which is deeply interconnected between the two countries.
Sudan’s foreign ministry condemned the extension of the sanctions.
“The government of Sudan strongly condemns the renewal of these sanctions,” the ministry said in a statement. “The sanctions imposed by the U.S. administration are political sanctions which were and still are aimed at damaging Sudan’s vital interests by hindering development ambitions and plans to fight poverty.”
Khartoum has always said that the sanctions hit ordinary Sudanese, who face an economic crisis and spiraling inflation after the independence of South Sudan, which took most of the country’s oil production.
(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; additional reporting by Ulf Laessing in Khartoum; editing by Jackie Frank)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/01/us-sudan-usa-idUSTRE7A07BD20111101
Sudan condemns renewal of US economic sanctions
November 1, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government reacted angrily to the decision by U.S. president Barack Obama to renew the comprehensive economic sanctions that have been in place since 1997.
- United States President Barack Obama returns a salute as he steps off Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington (AP)
“The government of Sudan strongly condemns the renewal of these sanctions,” the Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement as reported by Reuters.
“The sanctions imposed by the U.S. administration are political sanctions which were and still are aimed at damaging Sudan’s vital interests by hindering development ambitions and plans to fight poverty”.
Obama said in his memorandum released by the White House that the actions and policies of the Government of Sudan ate hostile to the U.S. interests and 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 declared with respect to Sudan and maintain in force the sanctions against Sudan to respond to this threat”.
In October 1997, the U.S. imposed comprehensive economic, trade and financial sanctions against Sudan in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. Further sanctions, particularly on weapons, have been imposed since the 2003 outbreak of violence in the western Darfur region.
Washington promised Khartoum last year that should South Sudan referendum go peacefully it will quickly remove the East African nation from the list of states that sponsor terrorism as early as July 2011.
However, easing of economic sanctions and upgrading diplomatic ties was contingent however upon resolving crises in Darfur.
The U.S. has yet to de-list Sudan from the terrorism designation which appears to be in light of new conflicts that erupted this year in Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
United Nations agencies and rights groups accused Khartoum of violating humanitarian law and in some instances may have committed war crimes in the course of the fighting.
Nonetheless Sudanese officials remain hopeful that the US would soon start lifting part of the sanctions in reward for facilitating the South Sudan referendum and recognizing its results which resulted in a creation of a new state as of last July.
In Khartoum, the speaker of the parliament Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir said that he is seeking direct dialogue with the U.S. Congress over what he said were “hostile” positions taken by legislative body against his country.
Al-Tahir accused Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) officials in north and south Sudan of supplying false information to U.S. lawmakers which resulted in a negative stance by Washington.
In addition to removing sanctions, Sudan wants the U.S. to assist in obtaining relief on a $38-billion debt which is incurring more than $1 billion in servicing fees annually.
(ST)
http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-condemns-renewal-of-US,40601
|
2011sudan.msg.rel.pdf 56K View Download |
|
2011sudan.not.rel.pdf 9K View Download |
About Post Author
