Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The US says Sudan has improved its access to people in need of humanitarian aid

The US will reduce some sanctions imposed on Sudan, President Barack Obama has announced.

The White House said the move was intended to acknowledge Sudan's efforts to reduce internal conflict, improve humanitarian access to people requiring aid and curtail "terrorism".

The president signed an executive order implementing the measures on Friday.

The move is been seen as an effort by Mr Obama to strengthen ties with Sudan before he leaves office.

The White House in a statement said the easing of sanctions will be delayed by 25 weeks in order to give further incentives to the Sudanese government to continue its reforms.

Mr Obama said in a letter to members of Congress that sanctions introduced by President Clinton relating "to the policies and actions of the government of Sudan have been altered by Sudan's positive actions over the past six months".

Economic sanctions were imposed against the country after the state was labelled a "sponsor of terrorism".

The penalties being suspended could be re-imposed if Sudan were seen to backtrack on any progress.

The actions recognised by the US include the move by South Sudan to deny safe haven to South Sudanese rebels.

Despite the move by the outgoing Obama administration, Sudan is expected to remain on a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

In 2009, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir was indicted on war crimes charges, the first to be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against a sitting president.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

An important first step - by James Copnall, BBC World Service Africa Editor

The US foreign policy establishment has been split between those who advocate greater engagement with Sudan, and those who believe it is morally wrong to deal with what they consider a genocidal regime.

Easing sanctions shows that the realpolitik wing - which in my experience has deeper knowledge of Sudanese affairs - holds the upper hand.

There are legitimate questions over whether Sudan has really passed the series of tests set by the Americans in areas such as stopping aerial bombardments, opening up the political arena to dissidents and improving humanitarian access to conflict areas.

However, it is clear that the sanctions, which have been in place for so long, have not brought about political change in Sudan and have hurt the people more than the politicians, a point made by Sudanese campaigners in recent months.

For Sudan, which is struggling with an economic crisis, the attraction of the policy change is obvious.

Questions remain.

Will the Trump administration continue this new policy left to them by Obama's team? Activists from all parts of the US political spectrum are implacably opposed to the Islamists who run Sudan, and may try to exert pressure to reverse this decision.

And would the US really be prepared one day to fully normalise relations with Sudan if the ICC-indicted Omar al-Bashir is still president?

That's for the future. For now, this announcement is an important first step towards a better relationship between the US and Sudan.

Human rights activists in the US have in recent years been strongly critical of President Bashir's record in the western region of Darfur.

The area has for many years been plagued by tensions between mostly nomadic Arabs and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zaghawa communities who have complained of persecution.

Administration officials first raised the possibility of a reduction in sanctions in the autumn.</s>WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama Friday (Jan 13) announced the lifting of some economic sanctions against Sudan in recognition of "positive" steps taken to end conflicts inside the country, improve aid access and tackle regional terror threats.

In a letter to Congress released by the White House, Obama said the past six months had seen "a marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan."

The letter recognized "steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism."</s>In this Nov. 15, 2016 file photo, students line up outside a classroom with a map of Africa on its wall, in Yei, in southern South Sudan. The Obama administration is set to ease sanctions against Sudan and broaden now limited talks with the long estranged African government, a U.S.-designated terrorism sponsor whose leader has been indicted on war crimes charges, The Associated Press learned Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday easing but not eliminating sanctions against Sudan, in an eleventh-hour push to broaden currently limited talks with the long-estranged African government.

The eased sanctions will enable trade and investment transactions to resume with Sudan, a U.S.-designated terrorism sponsor whose leader has been indicted on war crimes charges. The White House announced the decision as part of a five-track engagement process.

But Obama built in a six-month waiting period before the benefits for Sudan come into effect. By July 12, several U.S. agencies would have to affirm to the White House — which will be controlled by President-elect Donald Trump — that Sudan is continuing taking positive steps before the sanctions would be eased.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said he's determined that the situation that led the U.S. to impose and continue sanctions had changed over the last six months in light of Sudan's "positive actions."

"These actions include a marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, and steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism," Obama said.

The penalties being suspended by the policy change could be re-imposed if Sudan backtracks on the progress it has made. Obama's order also directed the government to produce an annual report on whether Sudan was upholding the positive steps it has taken.

Still, human rights groups were quick to question the move. Human Rights Watch called the decision "explicable" and said Sudan continues committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The Obama administration is sending the worst possible message to Sudan and other repressive governments: If you cooperate on counterterrorism, then all abuses — including by your president — will be ignored," said the group's Africa director, Leslie Lefkow.

Officials said the administration was keeping in place the broad set of economic and financial sanctions Sudan faces as a result of its "state sponsor of terrorism" designation.

In any case, decisions on continuing the diplomatic outreach will be up to the incoming Trump administration, which takes office on Jan. 20. Trump hasn't commented publicly about Sudan sanctions. But during the campaign, Walid Phares, who advised Trump on national security issues, suggested Trump was opposed to lifting sanctions on Sudan.

The human rights community has long blasted Khartoum's Arab-led government for its conduct in Darfur and treatment of various ethnic groups.

Beyond recognizing Sudan's improvements, the officials said the new approach signals an admission that years of limited U.S. engagement with Khartoum had not produced the desired result. Such an acknowledgement fits with a general pattern under Obama of rapprochement with rogue or antagonistic states, including Cuba, Iran and Myanmar.

The administration hinted at a policy shift last fall.

In September, the State Department issued an out-of-the-blue statement welcoming Khartoum's cooperation in fighting Islamic extremist groups, without mentioning any specific development or reason for the public release. It said Sudan had taken "important steps" to take on the Islamic State group and other such organizations, adding that the U.S. would work with the country on security matters while pressing it on human rights and democracy.

At the time, the department said the U.S. maintained grave concerns about Sudan's policies, notably its handling of unrest in the western Darfur region, but described normalized relations as not out of the question.

The department first labeled Sudan a terrorism sponsor in 1993. Among those Sudan harbored was Osama bin Laden, prompting President Bill Clinton to launch airstrikes in 1998. Sudan is one of only three countries still identified as such after Cuba was removed from the list in 2015. Syria and Iran are the others, although the Obama administration sealed a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran a year and a half ago.

Sudan's changes have largely occurred beneath the radar. But the U.S. credits the country with limiting travel of Islamic State militants and shifting toward greater alignment with Saudi Arabia, and less with Iran. Israel also has pressed the U.S. to adopt a friendlier relationship with Sudan after it cracked down on shipments of suspected Iranian weapons to groups hostile to the Jewish state.

The announcement will surely draw criticism from human rights groups because of ongoing allegations of rights abuses, notably in Darfur, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's indictment by the International Criminal Court for related atrocities. Al-Bashir is wanted for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide charges.

Darfur has been gripped by bloodshed since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of discrimination and neglect. The United Nations says 300,000 people have died in the conflict and 2.7 million have fled their homes.

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States moved to ease some financial sanctions against Sudan, the White House said on Friday in response to the east African nation's recent progress in tackling terrorism.

The lifting of the sanctions will be delayed by 180 days, a move "intended to encourage the Government of Sudan to sustain its efforts" over the past six months on human rights and terrorism, the executive order from U.S. President Barack Obama released by White House said.</s>Obama to ease Sudan sanctions on way out

In this Nov. 15, 2016 file photo, students line up outside a classroom with a map of Africa on its wall, in Yei, in southern South Sudan. The Obama administration is set to ease sanctions against Sudan and broaden now limited talks with the long estranged African government, a U.S.-designated terrorism sponsor whose leader has been indicted on war crimes charges, The Associated Press learned Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017.

WASHINGTON — American officials say the Obama administration is set to ease sanctions against Sudan, a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism.

The officials say the White House will announce a five-track engagement process with the Sudan, including the easing of sanctions, responding to positive actions by the government. They say these include improved Sudanese counterterrorism efforts.

The officials aren't authorized to speak publicly on the plan and are demanding anonymity. They say the announcement is expected Friday.

The officials say Sudan will remain as a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism.

They say U.S. penalties suspended under the new policy could be reinstated if Sudan backtracks on its progress.</s>The US will ease some trade and financial sanctions against Sudan Friday in recognition of its recent efforts to fight terrorism, according to US officials.

Exactly two decades after the US imposed economic sanctions against Sudan and with barely a week to go before President Barack Obama leaves office, the US is set to reverse its position on one of Africa’s most impoverished, isolated and violent nations.

Obama will sign an executive order Friday offering limited sanctions relief in “an acknowledgement of progress by the government of Sudan" in the fight against terrorism, US officials told reporters late Thursday.

US trade and financial sanctions were first imposed by former President Bill Clinton in 1997, a year after Osama bin Laden left the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, where he was based for four years after the billionaire Saudi jihadist was banished from his homeland. Washington’s allegations that Khartoum was supporting violent Islamist groups were confirmed a year later, when al Qaeda militants conducted deadly attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Over the next two decades, sanctions were routinely extended primarily due to the conflict in Darfur, a vast desert region in western Sudan, where state security services and pro-government militias conducted a brutal, scorched earth counterinsurgency that killed around 300,000 people and displaced some 2.5 million citizens.

The Darfur conflict also led to genocide charges at the ICC (International Criminal Court) against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

The new easing of sanctions would not affect “al-Bashir’s war crimes nor does it lift the state sponsor of terror [designation],” a White House official told the AFP. Syria and Iran are also on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

But over the past few years, Sudan has increased efforts to increase counter-terrorism cooperation with the US list, according to White House officials.

In a September 2016 statement, US State Department spokesman John Kirby acknowledged that Sudan had “taken important steps to counter ISIL [also known as the Islamic State group] and other terrorist groups and has sought to prevent their movement into and through Sudan”.

Contacts between the US and Sudan have also increased in recent months, with Secretary of State John Kerry meeting twice with his Sudanese counterpart and US envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth making several visits to Khartoum.

The Sudanese government had allowed two visits by American operatives to a restricted border area near Libya, US officials told the New York Times.

The easing of sanctions would allow Sudan to buy vehicles, spare parts for its crumbling infrastructure, as well as attract badly needed investments to boost an economy hit by crumbling oil prices and a raging conflict in its oil-rich provinces bordering South Sudan.

But they would not apply to the sale of military arms and equipment to the Sudanese government, according to US officials.

Reacting to the sanctions-easing reports, which came late Thursday, US-based advocacy groups called the measures “premature”.

"We will certainly seek to work with the US Congress to see some of these sanctions restored, modernised, and codified in the coming months," John Prendergast, director of the Washington DC-based anti-genocide group, the Enough Project, told Reuters.

In addition to Darfur, where a simmering counterinsurgency campaign continues, Sudanese authorities are also actively engaged in conflicts in central and southern Sudan, particularly the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan province. Khartoum, in addition, is accused of financing and supporting rebels fighting a brutal civil war across its border in South Sudan.

Eric Reeves, a fellow at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, told the New York Times he was “appalled” that the US government was easing sanctions. “There is no reason to believe the guys in charge have changed their stripes,” said Reeves.

Critics of economic sanctions however say they disproportionately affect ordinary civilians without weakening or impoverishing autocratic regimes. It was also not known if incoming US president-elect Donald Trump’s administration would seek to reverse the easing of sanctions, or if such a reversal was possible, and if so, how long would it take.</s>US President Barack Obama took the controversial step of easing some economic sanctions against Sudan on Friday, trying to improve relations with a country whose leader is accused of war crimes and past links to terror.

 

 Obama informed Congress that he will lift trade and investment sanctions against Khartoum, although Sudan will still be designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

 

 The outgoing president noted "a marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan." 

 

 He also recognized "steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism." 

 

 Sudan was labelled a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 and has been subject to a US trade embargo since 1997 over its support for Islamist groups.

 

 Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was based in Khartoum from 1992 to 1996.

 

 The US government believes those ties have ebbed, but sanctions have remained amid the government's scorched earth tactics against ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.

 

 According to the United Nations, 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million were displaced since that conflict began in 2003.

 

 The country's long-time leader President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for War Crimes.

 

 Obama's announcement prompted outrage from rights groups.

 

 "The Obama administration's decision to 'ease' sanctions is inexplicable," said Leslie Lefkow of Human Rights Watch.

 

 "Sudan's government has failed to make progress on core benchmarks, from its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur and other conflict zones, to its extensive repression of independent voices." 

 

 The measures mean that Sudanese assets will be unblocked and business transactions will now be permitted.

 

 "Treasury's sanctions are aimed at encouraging a change in behavior, and in the case of Sudan, our sanctions were intended to pressure the government of Sudan to change the way it treats its people," said the Treasury Department's Adam Szubin, noting progress.</s>US President Barack Obama took the controversial step of easing some economic sanctions against Sudan Friday, trying to improve relations with a country whose leader is accused of war crimes and past links to terror.

Obama informed Congress that he will lift trade and investment sanctions against Khartoum, although Sudan will still be designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

The outgoing president noted “a marked reduction in offensive military activity, culminating in a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan.”

He also recognized “steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan, as well as cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism.”

Sudan was labelled a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 and has been subject to a US trade embargo since 1997 over its support for Islamist groups.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was based in Khartoum from 1992 to 1996.

The US government believes those ties have ebbed, but sanctions have remained amid the government’s scorched earth tactics against ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.

According to the United Nations, 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million were displaced since that conflict began in 2003.

The country’s long-time leader President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for War Crimes.

“The Obama administration’s decision to ‘ease’ sanctions is inexplicable,” said Leslie Lefkow of Human Rights Watch.

“Sudan’s government has failed to make progress on core benchmarks, from its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur and other conflict zones, to its extensive repression of independent voices.”

The measures mean that Sudanese assets will be unblocked and business transactions will now be permitted.

“Treasury’s sanctions are aimed at encouraging a change in behavior, and in the case of Sudan, our sanctions were intended to pressure the government of Sudan to change the way it treats its people,” said the Treasury Department’s Adam Szubin, noting progress.

Sudan on Friday welcomed a US decision to lift some economic sanctions against Khartoum, saying it was a “positive and important” development in relations with Washington.

“The Sudanese ministry of foreign affairs welcomes the decision taken by President Barack Obama,” ministry spokesman Ghariballah Khidir said in a statement.

“This step represents a positive and important development for the course of bilateral relations between the United States of America and Sudan, and is the natural result of joint efforts and long and frank discussions.”

Khidir said Khartoum was “determined to pursue its cooperation with the United States until Sudan is removed from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism”.

Sudan has been subject to a US trade embargo since 1997 for its alleged support for Islamist groups. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was based in Khartoum from 1992 to 1996.

The post Obama eases Sudan sanctions appeared first on The Independent Uganda:.

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Also, Like us on facebook</s>President Barack Obama has lifted trade and financial sanctions on Sudan despite its current status of a “state sponsor of terrorism” and the legacy of genocide in Darfur. However, he has extended sanctions against Russia, Iran, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Venezuela.

The controversial move on Sudan, which lifts some parts of a US trade embargo in place since Bill Clinton’s administration, came in response to “Sudan's positive actions over the past 6 months,” including “cooperation with the United States on addressing regional conflicts and the threat of terrorism,” according to an executive order by Obama published by the White House.

However, some US sanctions against Sudan remain in place, including a ban on weapons sales and restrictions on US aid, as well as sanctions related to Darfur.

Sudan has been on the State Department’s list of so-called “state sponsors of terrorism” since 1993. Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has been charged in absentia by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the western region of Darfur.

According to 2008 UN estimates, some 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million more forced to flee since 2003, when the armed conflict began between rebels and the government of Sudan.

Although the order praised “a pledge to maintain a cessation of hostilities in conflict areas in Sudan, and steps toward the improvement of humanitarian access throughout Sudan,” rights groups called the measure “inexplicable.”

The Sudanese government “has bombed children and schools, starved civilians as a counterinsurgency strategy, gunned down scores of protesters in Khartoum, its capital, and tortured peaceful activists,” Leslie Lefkow, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, said in a statement.

“It’s impossible to match Sudan’s reality with the Obama administration’s claims of ‘sustained progress’,” the HRW officer said. “Lifting most sanctions sends an appalling message to Sudan – and other repressive governments.”

In the meantime, Obama has prolonged sanctions against a number of countries and individuals, including on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The restrictions against Russia, first imposed in March 2014, will now be extended beyond March 2017, Obama wrote in a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden (as president of the Senate) on the “continuation of national emergency.”

Obama accused the Russian government of what he called “the use of force in Ukraine,” referring to Crimea’s reunification with Russia as “annexation” and claiming this poses an “extraordinary” threat to the US security and foreign policy.

The measure looks designed to complicate US President-elect Donald Trump’s relations with Moscow after Barack Obama leaves office on January 20. Earlier Friday, Trump said he would consider lifting the restrictions, depending on how helpful the Russians are in the fight against terrorism, as well as assisting with other goals that he feels are important to the US.

Iran’s “certain actions and policies of the Government of Iran” have also been branded “contrary to the interests of the United States in the region” and an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” Tehran and Moscow are currently supporting the Syrian government in its struggle against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Besides that, Obama also extended the regime of sanctions against Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Cuba. Notably, the reestablishment of relations between the US and Cuba – frozen for over 50 years – was championed by Obama, who said last year that the decades-long embargo on Havana was “outdated.”</s>The US government has eased sanctions against Sudan, in a step towards normalising relations with a designated terrorism sponsor whose leader has been indicted on war crimes charges.



US officials say the change in policy towards the east African state is a response to steps taken by the government towards improving humanitarian access and lowering violence internally, as well as “cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism and addressing regional conflicts”.

The moves comes too amid a general shift of alliances and diplomatic priorities in east Africa, as major world and regional powers seek influence in an unstable but important part of the continent.



“This is definitely a geopolitical decision. It is not about values, democracy and human rights,” said Ahmed Soliman, an expert in East Africa at Chatham House, the London thinktank.

President Omar al-Bashir, who took power in a military coup in 1989, faces genocide charges at the International Criminal Court.

However, the veteran leader has has been welcomed by leaders across Africa and there have been intensifying contacts between Khartoum and the European Union too, prompted largely by concerns over immigration.

The order signed by Barack Obama in the last days of his administration will allow US firms to trade in Sudan.

“Treasury’s sanctions are aimed at encouraging a change in behavior, and in the case of Sudan, our sanctions were intended to pressure the Government of Sudan to change the way it treats its people,” said Adam J Szubin, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in a statement.

Szubin said the decision aim “to further incentivize the Government of Sudan to continue to improve its conduct.”

The new US move is controversial. Amnesty International alleged last year that Sudanese government forces used chemical weapons against civilians, including babies and young children, in one of the most remote parts of the restive Darfur region as recently as September.

The group Human Rights Watch called the decision is “inexplicable”, alleging that Sudan’s government continued to commit war crimes, while US-based campaigners called the new US policy “premature”.

“We will certainly seek to work with the US Congress to see some of these sanctions restored, modernised, and codified in the coming months,” John Prendergast, director of the Washington DC-based anti-genocide group, the Enough Project, told Reuters.

Sanctions were initially imposed on Sudan in 1993 due to its role as a host and backer of terrorist groups including Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida, which was in effect based in Khartoum between 1991 and 1996. Targets in Sudan, including a veterinary medicine factory, were hit by US missiles following the double bombing of US embassies in east Africa in 1998.

Sudan, once a pariah state, has gradually shifted away from its role as a leader and supporter of Islamist movements over recent decades.

However, sanctions were continued in response to extensive human rights abuses perpetrated by Sudanese forces against civilians in Darfur, the western region gripped by bloodshed since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government, accusing it of discrimination and neglect. The United Nations says 300,000 people have died in the conflict and 2.7 million have fled their homes.

US officials say humanitarian access will be monitored and review mechanisms allow the easing of sanctions to be reversed.

Khartoum remains, with Syria and Iran, one of three states in the world designated as a sponsor of terrorism by the US and the White House has stressed that a broad set of economic and financial sanctions against Sudan remains in place.

The Sudanese economy, which has been hit by low oil prices, the secession of South Sudan and continuing internal crises, could receive a boost as a result of the US decision.

Magnus Taylor, a Nairobi-based analyst at the International Crisis Group, said many international powers had long wanted to work with Sudan but internal conflicts there had stymied hopes of improved relations.

“On the migration issue in particular, the international community now wants to work with Sudan and it is felt that isolation has not helped come up with solutions,” Taylor said.

It is unclear if the new diplomatic outreach – aimed in part at encouraging moderate voices – will be continued by the incoming Trump administration, which takes office on 20 January.

Officials told the Associated Press the new approach signalled an admission that years of limited US engagement with Khartoum had not produced the desired result.

Such an acknowledgement fits with a general pattern under Obama of rapprochement with states long seen as “rogue” or “antagonistic”, including Cuba, Iran and Myanmar.

It also fits a pattern of the US prioritizing security assistance, particularly the fight against Islamic extremism, or short-term contribution to stability over democracy when choosing key allies in much of Africa.

The US government hinted at a policy shift last autumn.

In September, the state department issued a statement welcoming Khartoum’s cooperation in fighting Islamic extremist groups, without mentioning any specific development or reason for the public release.

It said Sudan had taken “important steps” to take on Islamic State and other such organizations, adding that the US would work with the country on security matters while pressing it on human rights and democracy.

Sudan shares a border with Libya and Egypt, both troubled by Islamic militant activity linked to Isis.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last year that Israel was lobbying the US and Europe to improve relations with Sudan after Khartoum cracked down on shipments of suspected Iranian weapons to groups hostile to the Jewish state.

Sudan has swapped a relationship with Iran for one with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim monarchies.

The arrests of two Sudanese men in Saudi Arabia after they posted about their support for protests in their home country on Facebook reflects the warming of relations between al-Bashir’s government and the kingdom.

Sudan signed up to join in the Saudi-led airstrike campaign in Yemen in 2015 and was one of only three states to sever ties with Iran when the Saudi embassy in Tehran was torched in retaliation for the execution of prominent Shia cleric.

Al-Bashir last week received an invitation from King Abdullah of Jordan to participate in the 28th Arab League Summit in Amman in March.
President of the United States Barack Obama signs an order to ease sanctions against Sudan, citing the country's efforts to "reduce internal conflict, improve humanitarian access to people requiring aid and curtail terrorism".