Washington, August 01: The US Secretary of State says her country will not ease some of the incumbent sanctions against Sudan a day after a top US official said easing the sanctions might help the peace process.
On July 30, the US special envoy for Sudan, General Scott Gration, had told US lawmakers that he did not know of any intelligence to justify Sudan remaining on a list of “state sponsors of terrorism,” a designation accompanied by sanctions and restrictions on aid.
However, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to contradict him. “We have made no decision to lift the listing on the terrorist list of Sudan,” she replied when asked whether [US President Barack] Obama’s administration was considering such a move.
Although the Obama White House is considering an “intensive review” of its Sudan policy, “no decisions have been made yet,” she stressed in a joint news conference with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister.
There is much debate across the Obama administration about how to deal with Sudan’s government and about what is happening in the western region of Darfur, which the Bush White House had labeled as genocide.
—-Agencies