Washington, Nov. 8: The United States has offered to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism early to keep a January referendum that may partition the country on track, officials said Sunday.
The President, Mr Barack Obama’s offer, which would not affect US sanctions against Khartoum related to the war-torn western region of Darfur, was proposed on his behalf by the Senator, Mr John Kerry, during weekend meetings with Sudanese officials.
The administration had taken a decision “to move up our readiness to rescind the designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism as early as July 2011,” senior officials told journalists during a conference call.
This was provided that the Khartoum government prepares and conducts a “transparent on-time referendum on the status of southern Sudan” and “reflects the results of that referendum,” the officials said.
Between January and July, Khartoum must also “implement all the appropriate post-referendum agreements as relates to among other things border demarcation, oil revenue sharing, currency, citizenship, and other matters.”