الأمريكان ماذا قالوا عن زيارة حمدوك (أمانى شاقة محبطة)

Atlantic Council

MON, DEC 2, 2019

Sudan’s prime minister comes to Washington

AfricaSource by Cameron Hudson

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok comes to Washington in search of a roadmap for ending decades of sanctions on Sudan. Since former ruler Omar al-Bashir came to power in a 1989 Islamist coup, Sudan has been numbered among the pariah nations of Iran, North Korea, and Syria. And for good reason: During Bashir’s long rule, Sudan was a robust sponsor of international terrorism and a flagrant abuser of human rights.

This spring, a democratic youth uprising for “Freedom, Peace, and Justice” ousted Bashir and installed a Western-oriented, reform-minded government. After less than four months in office, Hamdok—a former United Nations economist turned prime minister—comes to Washington with a daunting wish list:

Removing Sudan from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list;
Unwinding other congressional and executive branch sanctions related to the genocide in Darfur and human rights abuses in other parts of Sudan;
Creating a pathway for Sudan to pay back its financial arrears, restart the flow of international financial assistance, and put it on the road to debt relief.

None of these things can be accomplished quickly by either side. But Hamdok needs a clear understanding of what must be done and how long it might take to unwind the web of sanctions that girds the Sudanese economy

Thus far, the prime minister has done a poor job of managing the outsized expectations of his people to be out from under Washington’s punitive regime[/red[. Many will surely be disappointed when and if he returns home without one of these large deliverables, but Hamdok need not leave Washington empty-handed. Returning with the Trump administration’s confidence and a clear understanding of what the Sudanese government needs to do to unwind the web of sanctions that is choking Sudan’s economy would be a big win.