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U.N. Lifts Sanctions on Sudan
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United Nation's voted unanimously Friday to lift its five years of sanctions against Sudan, in light of Khartoum's increased efforts to cooperate with U.S. authorities in its global anti-terror campaign, news agencies reported.
Welcoming the accession of Sudan to the United Nations conventions against terrorism, the Security Council decided to terminate international sanctions against the country, said a statement issued on the United Nations website.
In a resolution adopted by a vote of 14 in favor - with the United States abstaining, the Council ended the measures, which were imposed in 1996 in an effort to compel Sudan to extradite three suspects in connection with an assassination attempt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the previous year.
In imposing the sanctions by resolution 1070, the Council also demanded that Sudan stop supporting terrorist activities and giving shelter to them
U.N. member states were asked to reduce the number of Sudanese diplomatic staff within their territory, to restrict the entry into - or transit through - their countries by Sudanese government and military officials, and to deny aircraft permission for Sudanese planes to take off from, land in, or fly over their territories.
In today's resolution, the Council noted that Egypt, as well as Ethiopia - where the assassination attempt took place - both supported the lifting of the sanctions.
It also welcomed Sudan's accession to the relevant international conventions for the elimination of "terrorism", the ratification of the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the signing of the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism.
Explaining his country's decision to abstain in the vote, U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said the suspects in the assassination attempt had not been turned over to the appropriate authorities, but added that apparently "they are no longer in Sudan".
The U.S. representative also lauded Sudan's recent actions, including the apprehension of "extremists within that country whose activities may have contributed to international terrorism." Khartoum was also "engaged in serious discussions" with the U.S. on ways to combat terrorism, he said.
"We expect the Government of Sudan to demonstrate a full commitment to the fight against international terrorism by taking every step to expel terrorists and deny them safe haven."
Following the meeting, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the press it was important for the Council to lift sanctions, "sending the message that it can impose sanctions but it can also suspend and lift [them], if the conditions they sought to correct have been amended."
Evidence of compliance, he said, was laid out in letters the U.N. had received from organizations and governments around the world, including the two countries directly affected, "who were keen for sanctions to be imposed - that is - Egypt and Ethiopia."
Also speaking to the press, the Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N., Elfatih Mohamed Erwa, said the sanctions were lifted as a result of "very hard work with the international community to clear Sudan from any allegations."
Regarding the Council's demands in 1996 for Sudan to hand over suspects in the assassination attempt against the President of Egypt, the ambassador said, "The fact that Sudan did not hand them over is because they were not in Sudan. You cannot give what you don't have."
The sanctions were imposed, he said, "due to a really regrettable incident in 1995 where the perpetrators used to live in Sudan, although the Sudanese government had nothing to do with it, but still we had to work hard to clear this matter."
When asked about media reports that the Sudan had only began cracking down on terrorist groups since the September 11th attacks on the U.S., he said Sudan's cooperation on terrorism did not only begin after the attacks.
"On the contrary, when we started the process of lifting the sanctions, we had already started cooperating with the United States through counter-terrorist experts in Sudan to meet the concerns that the U.S. government had."
However, the Sudanese Minister of Information, Mahdi Ibrahim, denied that the lifting of the sanctions was a reward for their crackdown on terrorist cells.
And, speaking to Qatari-based Al Jazeera satellite channel, Ibrahim said that contrary to news reports, Sudan has not arrested anyone who has connections to the September 11th attacks on the United States.
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