Sahel Blog: Have US sanctions against Sudan lost their bite?
The United States has lifted sanctions on South Sudan and has some sanctions on (North) Sudan, but the main :
U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday extended sanctions on Sudan for another year, saying Khartoum鈥檚 policies had not yet improved enough to warrant their removal.
Obama鈥檚 order maintains several sets of U.S. sanctions imposed since 1997 which restrict U.S. trade and investment with Sudan and block the assets of the Sudanese government and certain officials.
Khartoum rejected the decision:
鈥淭he government of Sudan strongly condemns the renewal of these sanctions,鈥� the [foreign] ministry said in a statement. 鈥淭he sanctions imposed by the U.S. administration are political sanctions which were and still are aimed at damaging Sudan鈥檚 vital interests by hindering development ambitions and plans to fight poverty.鈥�
The extension of sanctions returns us to an issue I wrote about in , when I asked what leverage the US has over Khartoum. Sudan specialist Bec Hamilton at the time that the potential 鈥渃arrot鈥� of normalized relations with the US was 鈥渘o longer leverage since Khartoum doesn鈥檛 believe it will ever happen (and they are probably right).鈥� Assuming Hamilton is right about the mood in Khartoum, Washington鈥檚 decision to extend sanctions likely confirms and deepens Sudan鈥檚 pessimism regarding the possibility of normalization. That pessimism, in turn, could ultimately lead the regime of President Omar al Bashir to conclude that it is not worthwhile to halt violence in the border areas or Darfur in the hope of winning acceptance from Washington. That pessimism could also push Sudan even closer to China 鈥� Beijing, after all, was Bashir鈥檚 destination on the eve of Southern independence.
Washington鈥檚 decision to extend sanctions is in keeping with existing US policy toward Sudan, but the decision will have consequences, including ones that may negatively affect the relationship even after sanctions are eventually lifted.
Read more about the sanctions .
听-聽Alex Thurston is a PhD student studying Islam in Africa at Northwestern University and blogs at .
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