The Trump administration has offered to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism—if the poverty-stricken country will fork over $330 million. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the proposal during a meeting with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum on Tuesday, per the BBC, though it's unclear whether a deal might be reached. The Guardian reports that the proposed $330 million payment, which would go to victims of al-Qaeda, has been met with dismay in the East African country, where 10 million people are facing food shortages. Some say the reformist government is being punished for the mistakes of former President Omar al Bashir, who ruled for 30 years before his ouster last April. Al Bashir, charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court, hosted al-Qaeda's then-leader Osama bin Laden from 1991 to 1996.
"We opposed the regime and overthrew it. Now we have to pay for what it did wrong," one activist tells the Guardian. Others argue there's no basis for Sudan remaining on the list. Since 1993, it has suffered unwelcome consequences, including the denial of financial aid, on the basis that it provided support to a terrorist group, per the Guardian. To help its cause, Sudan agreed earlier this year to pay an undisclosed sum to victims of the 2000 al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 people and injured 39, per the New York Times. That sum is to be included in the $330 million payment, which would also compensate victims of the 1998 double bombing of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which killed more than 224 people and maimed 4,000 others, reports Foreign Policy. However, foreign nationals stand to receive much less than Americans. (More Sudan stories.)
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