Senior Secretary Swings by Struggling Sudan, Seeking to Strengthen Scarcely Started Solidarity

United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrived in Sudan on Wednesday, marking the first official visit by a senior American official since the White House removed the African country from the state sponsors of terrorism list last month. Mnuchin landed in Khartoum’s international airport and was received by his acting counterpart Heba Mohammed Ali, going on to meet with Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling sovereign council, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. In August, as talks between the two nations accelerated toward December’s historic announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo became the first top American diplomat to visit Sudan since Condoleezza Rice’s 2005 tour. Mnuchin’s one-day visit will focus on the state’s struggling economy and potential assistance from Washington, a statement released by Khartoum said. In December, President Donald Trump agreed to remove Sudan from the terror-sponsors list and to settle all litigation ongoing against Sudan in the US for its role in aiding Al-Qaida in the late 1990s. The move came weeks after Khartoum’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty, and nearly two years after the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in a coup d’état.