Sudan Excluded From US List of Counterterrorism Uncooperative States

Sudanese demonstrators wave their national flag as they attend a protest rally demanding Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to step down, outside Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer
Sudanese demonstrators wave their national flag as they attend a protest rally demanding Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to step down, outside Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer
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Sudan Excluded From US List of Counterterrorism Uncooperative States

Sudanese demonstrators wave their national flag as they attend a protest rally demanding Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to step down, outside Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer
Sudanese demonstrators wave their national flag as they attend a protest rally demanding Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to step down, outside Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

Sudan was excluded, for the first time since 1993, from the list of uncooperative countries in combating terrorism which was issued by the US State Department on Wednesday evening.

Analysts and experts said the move is an important step towards the complete removal of Sudan from the terrorism list and the possibility for Khartoum to return again to the international community. It will also have a major impact on reviving the country’s economy.

Sudan has been greatly affected by its inclusion on this list of states sponsoring terrorism. But the relations with Washington have improved following talks that Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok held with US officials over the past year.

The premier obtained promises from the State Department, Treasury and Defense officials, and leaders of the US Congress, to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Aly Verjee, researcher at the United States Institute of Peace, said that Hamdok’s government and a broad segment of Sudanese civil society have been seeking for some time to persuade the US government to remove the country from the terrorism list, as the solution to address the economic collapse and to move towards democratization.

The researcher emphasized that there were many systematic steps to be taken, both from Khartoum and Washington, to remove the country from the list, including the need for a negotiated settlement with the families of victims of terrorist attacks.

He explained that the US Treasury removed restrictions on investment and banking when the US lifted its comprehensive sanctions against Sudan in 2017, stressing that there were currently no restrictions on obtaining US foreign aid to the country.



Iraqi Police Clash with PMF Fighters Who Stormed Government Building 

Supporters and members of Iraq's PMF wave flags as they march in Baghdad to condemn a US air strike in the south of the capital that killed four members of the PMF, on July 31, 2024. (AFP)
Supporters and members of Iraq's PMF wave flags as they march in Baghdad to condemn a US air strike in the south of the capital that killed four members of the PMF, on July 31, 2024. (AFP)
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Iraqi Police Clash with PMF Fighters Who Stormed Government Building 

Supporters and members of Iraq's PMF wave flags as they march in Baghdad to condemn a US air strike in the south of the capital that killed four members of the PMF, on July 31, 2024. (AFP)
Supporters and members of Iraq's PMF wave flags as they march in Baghdad to condemn a US air strike in the south of the capital that killed four members of the PMF, on July 31, 2024. (AFP)

A gun battle erupted in Iraq's capital on Sunday between police and fighters from the state-sanctioned Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), killing at least one police officer and leading to the arrest of 14 fighters, authorities said.

The clash broke out in Baghdad's Karkh district after a group of fighters from the P PMF stormed an Agriculture Ministry building as a new director was being sworn in, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq's state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.

According to the Interior Ministry, the PMF fighters burst into the building during an administrative meeting, causing panic among staff who alerted police.

Security sources and three employees at the scene said the fighters had wanted to stop the office's former director from being replaced.

A statement from the Joint Operations Command, which reports directly to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, confirmed that the detainees were PMF members and had been referred to the judiciary. At least one police officer was killed and nine others were wounded, police and hospital sources said.

Sudani ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the incident, the command said.

The arrested fighters belong to "PMF brigades 45 and 46", the statement added. Both brigades are affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, according to Iraqi security officials and sources within the PMF.