Sudan says to push for full lifting of US sanctions

In recent months, several US and Sudanese officials have said that there was progress on meeting Obama’s conditions, also known as “five tracks”.

Ghandour said Khartoum had in fact gone “too far” in engaging with Washington.

“Which is why what has been positively achieved, we will build on it without jeopardising or endangering our sovereignty,” he said.

He said that Washington should realise that Sudan was “important for peace and security” in the region. “We are not a small regional power,” the minister said.

– US security warning –

Later on Thursday the US embassy in Khartoum issued a security warning to all American citizens in Sudan, urging them to “remain at home” on Friday.

“Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence,” the embassy said on its website.

“You should avoid areas of demonstrations, and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations.”

No Sudanese group had so far urged protests or demonstrations on Friday against the US extension of sanctions.

Washington imposed a complex set of economic sanctions on Sudan in 1997 for its alleged backing of Islamist militant groups.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a US commando raid in Pakistan in 2011, was based in Khartoum from 1992 to 1996.

Washington has also pointed to accusations of scorched-earth tactics by Khartoum against ethnic minority rebels in war-torn Darfur.

At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since the Darfur conflict erupted in 2003, the UN says.

Bashir himself is wanted for genocide and war crimes related to the conflict in Darfur, charges he steadfastly denies.

Some campaign groups had called on the Trump administration to maintain the sanctions on Sudan, citing Khartoum’s record of human rights violations.