US lifts ban on financial assets of Sudan’s embassy in Seoul

[Elisabeth Janaina]

US lifts ban on financial assets of Sudan’s embassy in Seoul
File photo: Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir
File photo: Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir

The United States of America has lifted a ban on a sum of money
belonging to Sudan's Embassy in the South Korean capital Seoul, a
Sudanese official announced on Wednesday.

"This is a positive move which indicates the progress in the financial
relations between Sudan and the external world," said Abdul-Rahman
Dirar, Sudan's State Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, in a
statement Wednesday.

He pointed out that the money belongs to the Commercial and Economic
Center and that it was transferred from DAEWOO Company to the center
and was banned two years ago.

The Sudanese official expressed hope that the US administration would
permanently lift its economic sanctions on Sudan.

The United States imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997, during the
administration of Bill Clinton. The sanctions include a trade embargo
and blocking the government's assets. Additional sanctions were
imposed in 2006 for complicity in the violence in Darfur.