A senior Sudanese military delegation has arrived in Germany to attend a summit for the first time with the heads of staff of the United States Africa Command (Africom), headquartered in Stuttgart.
The senior military delegation is led by Sudan's chief of staff, Imaduldin Adawi. The official Sudanese news agency (Suna) reported that the Sudanese chief of staff will hold a number of meetings and bilateral talks with counterparts participating on the sidelines of the summit.
Brig. gen. Ahmed Khalifa Shami, spokesman for the Sudan Armed Forces, said that Sudan's participation in the meetings of Africom in Germany “is evidence on the breakthrough in the relationship with the United States and a move towards lifting Sudan's name from the US list of countries sponsoring terrorism and fully lifting the American economic sanctions.
“Sudan's participation in these meetings is an indicator for surpassing the phase of sanctions lifting to cooperation in issues that Sudan is committed to combating such as cross-border crimes, terrorism, illegal immigration and money laundering,” Shami said.
The unit of combat forces run by the US Department of Defence is responsible for military operations and military relations with 53 African nations. Following the announcement of the planned lifting of US sanctions, Sudan has been reconsidered as worthy for participating in its meetings, said Shami.
The United States has put Sudan on the list of countries supporting terrorism since the Bill Clinton administration in 1997 and has therefore imposed economic sanctions. Former president Barack Obama has ordered to lift the sanctions later this year, in light of the country's “positive actions over the past six months”.
Meanwhile the military attaché of the US embassy in Sudan visited North Darfur last week for a briefing by the State Governor on his efforts to “remove the negative impact of war”. Suna reported that attaché John Bung said he witnessed great developments in North Darfur.