Disaster if US sanctions not lifted: Sudan's leader

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) - Sudan’s prime minister on Thursday warned of disastrous consequences for his country if the world doesn't help get its name removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, thus ending the accompanying sanctions.

Addressing a forum on the Sudanese economy in the capital Khartoum by U.K.-based Chatham House, Abdalla Hamdok said Sudan is at risk of failing if the U.S. doesn’t take its name off the list.

The terrorist listing and sanctions “have so many implications for progress” for Sudan including such areas as investment, he argued.

If Sudan fails, the fallout in the region will be worse than the effect of the situation in Libya, Syria, or Yemen, he added.

Hamdok, who is leading the transitional government in Sudan, warned the country is at a crossroads, adding that the listing should have been removed with the end of the old regime, calling its persistence a “major challenge.”

“We have been talking to everyone, the administration in America, everywhere, and to our friends in Europe and in the region and calling on them to help us to address this,” he said.

Saying the peaceful Sudanese people never sponsored terrorism, he added this should be “rewarded” by immediately lifting the sanctions under the terrorist listing.

Government priorities include stopping violence, repairing the economy, reforming government institutions including the public and security sector, and combating corruption, he said.

Omar al-Bashir was removed from Sudan’s presidency by the military this April after months of protests against his 30-year rule.