The United States plans to remove Sudan from the terrorism blacklist in exchange for $335M for victims of two US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. The former president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, is alleged to have had involvement with the group responsible for the attacks: al-Qaida. Sudan has been designated as a state-sponsor of terrorism since 1993 which has caused tremendous pain on the Sudanese leadership and the Sudanese people. The pledge to pay $335M is a sign from Sudan that they want to shift away from their previous regime under al-Bashir to a democratic government. The US government hopes that this will lead to Sudan normalizing relations with Israel as they follow the example of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. However, there has been pushback to both of these as the Sudanese people argue that it is unfair for Sudan to have to pay for the actions of al-Bashir. Moreover, Sudan's willingness to normalize relations with Israel will take a lot more time and deep discussion within society.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/us-removes-sudan-from-terrorism-blacklist-in-return-for-335m
By Luke Joiner
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