What after the lifting of US sanctions on Sudan?

Friday 10/23/2020 12:25 AM Abu Dhabi time

The political Islam group came to power in Sudan after the coup led by Omar al-Bashir at the behest of Hassan al-Turabi against the government of Sadiq al-Mahdi in 1989, and the ensuing struggle for power ended in a dictatorship that exhausted the country and inserted it into futile wars, separating its south from its north, and even became an incubator for terrorism and its symbols. This led to the imposition of US sanctions that deprived the Sudanese people of their most basic rights.

The story of the US sanctions on Sudan began in 1988 when the latter defaulted on paying its debts, but the sanctions related to the terrorism file began in 1993 when Sudan was included in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, in response to the Bashir regime’s hosting of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and in 1997. The US administration imposed, with an executive decision by President Bill Clinton, financial and trade sanctions on Sudan, according to which the Sudanese financial assets were frozen, the export of American technology to it was prevented, and American companies and American citizens were obligated not to invest and economic cooperation with Khartoum.

After the overthrow of Al-Bashir’s rule last year, the transitional authority found itself facing economic and social crisis, in addition to the deteriorating security situation, and internal and external conspiracies aimed at thwarting the revolution and returning the Brotherhood to the forefront of the scene, but it faced all these obstacles and obstacles with all firmness and skill, and made the government of Hamdok “Achieving political and security stability and saving the rickety economy is a top priority for it, so I signed a historic peace agreement in Juba, through which it turned the page of war forever, and after a long dialogue with the US administration reached a financial settlement, paving the way for the issuance of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the decision to remove Sudan from the list of terrorism .

Sudan will gradually emerge from the cycle of poverty after the end of the US sanctions imposed on the previous regime, and this will allow the integration of the Sudanese economy and the state’s banking system into the global economy and the flow of cash and foreign investments to the country, and it will help Sudan acquire modern technologies and access the international financial market, which will allow it to improve management Its exports and imports. This decision will also result in a doubling of the value of development and humanitarian aid provided by Washington to Sudan, including surplus wheat and medical supplies that the Sudanese people badly need.

This decision, which the Sudanese Transitional Council describes as historic, is still hostage to several other factors intertwined regionally and internationally, and there are internal challenges, the most important of which is restoring the confidence of the international community in achieving peace and carrying out a set of basic economic reforms, increasing transparency in the banking sector, improving the human rights record, and addressing the accumulated files. To encourage countries to open the door to investments and reduce the burden of debt. Unless the Hamdok government can take advantage of this decision to implement urgent reforms, it faces immediate risks. The Sudanese are demanding a speedy recovery of the economy, and they can take to the streets if that is not imminent, as they did during the revolution that toppled al-Bashir.

Today, Sudan is heading to end the biggest obstacle to economic reforms, which is raising its name from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, as it is a great achievement that puts an end to one of the most legacies of the previous regime, which created devastation for the economy in this country and wasted development opportunities in it, in addition to stifling international isolation. Sudan certainly will not waste this opportunity to build the Renaissance project and move on the path of development and prosperity, and behind it the friends and brothers are lining up to help it overcome this critical stage in its history and inaugurate a new era in which Sudan returns as it was.