US Secretary of State John Kerry has hinted at willingness to remove Sudan from a list of “state sponsors of terrorism”, disclosing that he discussed this possibility with the Sudanese foreign minister recently. But Kerry said the decision would be linked to improvements in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur rather than cooperation on counter-terrorism per se.
The top US official was speaking at a function at Harvard University on Tuesday when he was asked about Sudan. A transcript of his remarks was published by the US State Department.
He said, “I met as recently as a couple of weeks ago in New York with the new foreign minister from [Sudan] – Foreign Minister Ghandour, and we talked very specifically about what needs to happen in the two areas, in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, and in Darfur in order to perhaps open up a new channel to talk about how we might get them off the terrorist list if they deserve to be taken off it, but that we need to engage and we’re prepared to do it.”
He noted, however, that they had previously considered the same possibility but this did not work out, blaming Sudan for carrying out attacks in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur, calling this the “same old” strategy. “And so it was impossible for us to continue forward,” he said.
Kerry went on to say that he wants to see if the Sudanese government are “serious” this time. “If they’re serious this time around, there are other players in the region with whom I’ve had conversations in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] and elsewhere who have relationships with Sudan who I think are prepared to help us try to change that dynamic, and I would love to do it.”
He did not go into further specifics but he noted that he dispatched a special envoy, Ambassador Donald Booth, who is mandated to discuss such issues with the Sudanese government.
The US Department of State keeps a list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism”, which currently includes only Iran, Sudan and Syria, claiming these countries have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” Inclusion on the list results in the imposition of strict unilateral sanctions.
However, even though the State Department has historically designated Sudan as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” it also has reported publicly elsewhere that the country in fact cooperates against terrorism, for example, saying in its 2013 report on global terrorism that Sudan “remained a generally cooperative counterterrorism partner.”