US to lift 20-year trade embargo against Sudan

The Obama administration took steps on Friday to lift a 20-year-old trade embargo against Sudan, unfreeze assets and remove financial sanctions in what the White House said was a response to the African nation's cooperation in fighting Islamic State and other groups, angering human rights organizations.

The move in the last days of the Obama administration will however will be delayed by 180 days to see whether Sudan acts further to improve its human rights record, and resolve political and military conflicts, including in Darfur.

That leaves the final decision of sanctions relief, after the review period, to President-elect Donald Trump and his secretary of state, who is likely to be Rex Tillerson, a former oil executive.

"Sudan has long expressed a desire to get out from under sanctions, as well as other restrictions that the United States has imposed on Sudan going back 20 years," a senior administration official said.

"Over the past two years we have looked for a way to engage with Sudan in a way we could overcome some of the lack of trust of the past," the official said on a conference call with reporters, adding that talks with Khartoum had intensified over the past six months.

Trump's transition team had been briefed on the move, the official said, adding that the measures do not affect Sudan's label as a state sponsor of terrorism nor does it impact sanctions tied to Khartoum's role in the Darfur conflict.

The sanctions relief is expected to impact businesses that deal with agriculture, import-export services, transportation, technology and medical equipment, and oil, the official said.

Sudan's foreign ministry welcomed the move, calling it an "important positive development in bilateral relations between Sudan and the United States."

The ministry said it hoped further cooperation would allow Sudan to be removed from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism.

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. It layered on more sanctions in 2006 for what it said was complicity in the violence in Darfur.

In a letter to Congress, US President Barack Obama said "actions of the government of Sudan has been altered by Sudan's positive actions over the past six months."