Sudan and the US State Sponsors of Terrorism List

Source: The Foreign Policy Research Institute published on 23 July 2020
The Foreign Policy Research Institute published on 23 July 2020 a commentary titled “Can Sudan Escape Its History as a Transit Hub for Violent Extremist Organizations?” by Peter Chalk, Valens Global, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Valens Global, and Colin P. Clarke, Foreign Policy Research Institute.

The State Department placed Sudan on the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 1993 and it has not been removed in spite of the fact annual State Department reports on terrorism have stated that Sudan has cooperated with the U.S. government over the last fifteen years to reign in terrorism.  The most recent State Department Sudan country report on terrorism notes that “despite the absence of high-profile terrorist attacks, ISIS facilitation networks appear to be active within Sudan.” The authors correctly note there are other legal obstacles that are making it difficult to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

But there is no indication that the government of Sudan is aiding and abetting possible ISIS facilitation networks in Sudan and these networks exist in at least a dozen countries that are NOT on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.