USS Cole bombing: Sudan signs deal with victims' kin

KHARTOUM (AA)- Sudan announced on Thursday of reaching a settlement with the families of those killed in the 2000 USS Cole bombing in order to be removed from a U.S. terror listing.

"As part of the transitional government's effort to remove Sudan from the terrorism list, a deal has been signed on Feb. 7 with the families of the victims of the USS Cole incident," Sudan's Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The communique, which did not provide any details on the terms of the settlement, added: "In the agreement, it was stated explicitly that the government is not responsible for this or any other incident."

The bombing was an attack on USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on 12 October 2000, when it was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor. Seventeen U.S. Navy sailors were killed and 39 injured in the incident.

In 1993, Washington had listed Sudan in its terrorism blacklist for its alleged support to terror groups.

In March 2019, Goss Billerax, the head of the U.S. Congress delegation to Sudan, had said that "Washington will negotiate with Khartoum on the payment of compensation in allegations and provisions against Sudan related to terrorist attacks."

"This includes the rulings of an American court related to the bombing of the American embassies in Dar Essalaam and Nairobi in 1989, and the attack on the American destroyer Cole in 2000," he added.

*Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara