{"id":229378,"date":"2019-09-03T23:02:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=229378"},"modified":"2019-09-03T23:02:18","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:02:18","slug":"fm-says-germany-working-to-end-sudans-pariah-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/03\/fm-says-germany-working-to-end-sudans-pariah-status\/","title":{"rendered":"FM says Germany working to end Sudan’s pariah status"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas landed in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, in the first such visit to the African country by a top German diplomat since 2011. (File Photo<\/a>: Heiko Maas\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CAIRO \u2014 Germany’s top diplomat said Tuesday his country has been working to readmit Sudan into the international economy after the military’s overthrow of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April amid mass protests against his three-decade rule.<\/p>\n

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas landed in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, in the first such visit to the African country by a top German diplomat since 2011.<\/p>\n

His trip was part of Germany’s efforts to help overhaul Sudan’s battered economy and reach peace with armed groups, which remain among the top challenges facing the country’s new administration.<\/p>\n

It came two weeks after the formation of a power-sharing government by the pro-democracy movement and the generals, which will rule Sudan for a little more than three years until elections can be held.<\/p>\n

Maas said at a joint news conference in Khartoum with Sudan’s newly appointed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok that Berlin would discuss with the international community ways to end Sudan’s international pariah status.<\/p>\n

He said his government would also discuss with the parliament, or Bundestag, in Berlin ways to co-operate on economic development with the new government in Sudan.<\/p>\n

Maas also met with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council. He said he \u201cstressed the importance of transferring power to a civilian government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States named Sudan a state sponsor of terror in 1993, and the designation stuck through the al-Bashir regime. In 2017, Washington began a formal process to de-list Sudan, but this was put on hold when mass protests began in December. Moves to de-list Sudan could resume once the country’s political situation has stabilized.<\/p>\n

Hamdok, the prime minister, said he has held a \u201clong discussion\u201d with the U.S. administration about removing Sudan from Washington’s list of countries sponsoring terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are expecting a big breakthrough that will lead to removing Sudan from the terror list,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a convenient circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n

De-listing Sudan would allow the transitional government to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, part of its efforts to revive the ailing economy.<\/p>\n

Hamdok told a local TV station last month that Sudan needs up to $8 billion in foreign aid in the next two years and another $2 billion deposited as reserves to shore up the plunging local currency.<\/p>\n

Sudan was plunged into an economic crisis when the oil-rich south seceded in 2011 after decades of war, taking with it more than half of public revenues and 95% of exports. Sudan has been battling rebellions in its long-neglected provinces for decades and is nearly $60 billion in debt.<\/p>\n

Hamdok also said at the news conference that he would work with rebel groups to achieve \u201csustainable peace\u201d that would eventually lead to a slash in military spending, which takes up as much as 80% of the state budget.<\/p>\n

Sudan has also been convulsed by rebellions in its far-flung provinces for decades, and while a rebel alliance has joined the pro-democracy coalition, it argues that it should be represented in the transitional government.<\/p>\n

The power-sharing deal calls for the government to reach a peace agreement with the rebels within six months.<\/p>\n

The Sovereign Council said Hamdok, a former U.N. official, would announce his Cabinet within 48 hours. According to the power-sharing agreement, the protest-appointed Cabinet was to have been announced late in August.<\/p>\n

Hamdok is to form a Cabinet of not more than 20 ministers, but the military will nominate the defence and interior ministers.<\/p>\n

He said his talks with the protest leaders are underway to ensure adequate representation for women and all of Sudan’s regions in the transitional government.<\/p>\n

In another development, the sovereign council agreed to restore the BBC’s broadcasting license, ending a ban imposed by al-Bashir’s government on the British network’s Arabic service in 2010, the state-run SUNA news agency said Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CAIRO \u2014 Germany’s top diplomat said Tuesday his country has been working to readmit Sudan into the international economy after …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":229380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-samy-magdy","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229381,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229378\/revisions\/229381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}