US removes Sudan’s largest private bank from sanctions list
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April 29, 2011 (WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Friday removed the private
Bank of Khartoum from a blacklist of Sudanese entities and individuals
subjected to economic sanctions since 1997.
According to the measure, the largest bank in Sudan can now ask the
return of blocked funds and assets and resume its activities with the
US financial institutions.
In a notice posted on its website on 28 April, the US Treasury
Department announced the deletion of the Bank from its list of
sanctions without providing any explanation. The statement just cited
the Bank of Khartoum and its 50 branches in the country.
However, a US official said the decision is motivated by the fact that
it is no longer under the Sudanese government’s control.
Following its privatization in 2002, the Bank of Khartoum is
controlled by Dubai Islamic Bank which holds 60% of its shares since
2005. The bank was among 163 Sudanese entities included in the OFAC’s
list.
In October 1997, the U.S. imposed comprehensive economic, trade and
financial sanctions against Sudan in response to its alleged
connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. Further
sanctions, particularly on weapons, have been imposed since the 2003
outbreak of violence in the western Darfur region.
US officials pledged last December before the referendum of southern
Sudan independence to remove Sudan from the list of states sponsoring
terrorism and to ease the economic sanctions.
However Washington made it clear that lifting the comprehensive
sanctions is contingent upon resolving the crisis in Darfur.
On 12 April, the OFAC issued a press release saying that South Sudan
Republic (SSR) which will be declared officially on 9 July is exempt
from the sanctions imposed on the Sudan since two decades.
"Following interagency consultations, OFAC has concluded that the SSR
will continue to apply only to Sudan and the Government of Sudan, and
that such a new state and its government will not be subject to them".
During recent visit to Washington, the secretary-general of the SPLM
North Sudan, Yasir Arman, called on the U.S Administration not to lift
the economic sanctions unless the government of president Omer
Al-Bashir demonstrates commitment to democratic transformation.
Arman’s statement sparked fury in Khartoum where the spokesperson of
the foreign ministry, Khalid Moussa, told reporters that Arman’s call
constitutes "a breach of national agendas and principles."
(ST)
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