The Obama administration is set to lift some financial sanctions against Sudan, senior U.S. officials said Thursday.
The White House is expected to make the announcement Friday. The easing of sanctions is in response to positive actions by the Sudanese government in fighting terrorism, reducing conflict, denying safe haven to South Sudanese rebels and improving humanitarian access to people in need.
The United States first imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997, including a trade embargo and blocking the government's assets, for human rights violations and terrorism concerns. The United States layered on more sanctions in 2006 for what it said was complicity in the violence in Darfur.
Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Bilal, speaking with VOA's James Butty, welcomed the news of the lifting of the sanctions because, he said, they "have had a devastating impact on the country and its people." He said sanctions increased "the misery of the people" who could not leave the country to get medical treatment or import technology.
U.S. officials said the lifting of the sanctions had no bearing on Sudan's designation by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide.