UN lifts diplomatic sanctions

The United Nations Security Council on Friday voted to lift the diplomatic sanctions imposed on Sudan five years ago. Following a Security Council meeting, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it had been important for the Council to lift the sanctions, thereby "sending the message that it can impose sanctions, but it can also suspend and lift [them], if the conditions they sought to correct have been amended". The resolution to remove the restrictions was adopted by the 15-member Council with 14 votes in favour, and one abstention from the US. The sanctions, imposed in 1996 to force Sudan to hand over suspects in an assassination attempt on Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, required all states to reduce Sudanese diplomatic representation on their territory, and to restrict the entry of Sudanese government officials. In its statement on lifting the sanctions, the Council noted Sudan's recent efforts to combat terrorism, and its accession to two conventions for the elimination of terrorist activities: the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism and the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of Financing Terrorism. Explaining the decision to abstain in the vote, the US ambassador to the UN, James Cunningham, said the suspects had not been turned over to the appropriate authorities, but added that "they were no longer in Sudan". Annan said Egypt, on whose behalf the sanctions were imposed, and Ethiopia, where the assassination attempt took place, had supported lifting the sanctions. The Sudanese government in a statement welcomed the lifting of the sanctions. "The decision was the fruit of a realistic policy by the government for cooperation with the international community," the statement said. Khartoum's close observance of the sanctions had "convinced the world of the Sudan's sincere efforts for maintaining international peace and security", it added.