Washington calls for delay in lifting sanctions

The US government has persuaded Sudan to delay a request to lift UN-imposed sanctions on it, Reuters reported on Tuesday. It quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Sudan and the US had agreed to put off any action on lifting the measures until September, because there was still an (undisclosed) outstanding issue to be settled between the two countries. A group of non-permanent members of the UN Security Council were requested by Sudan to postpone a resolution requesting the council to lift the sanctions, the report added.

The sanctions, imposed in 1996 to force Sudan to hand over suspects in an assassination attempt on Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, require all states to reduce Sudanese diplomatic representation on their territory and to restrict the entry of Sudanese government officials. In 1998, Washington withdrew its diplomats from Sudan for security reasons, but stopped short of breaking off relations. Both Egypt, on whose behalf the sanctions were imposed, and Ethiopia, where the attack against Mubarak took place, have supported the lifting of the sanctions, according to Reuters.