Sudan PM sees progress on US terror list removal

Sudan’s new civilian prime minister said Thursday he
saw progress on removing his nation from a US blacklist of state sponsors of
terrorism as he paid a landmark visit to Washington.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who has embarked on
ambitious reforms and peace initiatives since his transitional government took
over in August after decades of military rule, is the first leader of Sudan to
visit Washington since 1985.
The United States agreed Wednesday to restore full
diplomatic relations after more than two decades but still classifies Sudan as
a state sponsor of terrorism, a major impediment to would-be investors who fear
repercussions in the world’s largest economy.
“Over the last two to three days here in Washington,
the elephant in the room is the issue of the delisting of Sudan from the state
sponsors of terrorism,” Hamdok said at the Atlantic Council, a think tank.
Hamdok, a British-educated former diplomat and UN
official, said the blacklist had an impact not only on investment but on
efforts to relieve Sudan’s debt and to usher in a broader “opening” of the
country.
He said the discussions were “progressing very
well.”
“We’re making progress on this, and we hope we’ll be
able to reach a conclusion,” he said.
US officials, while voicing support for Hamdok, say
that removal from the list is a legal process that requires a formal review
over a six-month period.
US lawmakers who met Hamdok said that Sudan must
reach a settlement with families of the victims of the 1998 bombings of the US
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as well as of the USS Cole in 2000.
US investigators have linked all three attacks to
Sudan, whose former military ruler Omar al-Bashir welcomed Al-Qaeda chief Osama
bin Laden in the 1990s.
“When it comes to the claims, we are also, as a
nation, victims of terrorism inflicted on us by the former regime. But we
accepted this,” Hamdok said of the lawmakers’ demands.
The United States retaliated for the embassy attacks
by destroying a major pharmaceutical factory in Sudan over allegations,
fiercely disputed since, that it produced a nerve agent.
Bashir was toppled in April by the military, which
itself gave way in the face of mass protests led by young people concerned
about poor economic opportunities.