Sudan will close office of terrorist groups Hezbollah, Hamas
The offices of Hamas, Hezbollah, and any other Islamic group designated as terrorist by the US will close, as Sudan wants to put its own interests first.
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALLieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo greets his supporters during a meeting in Khartoum, Sudan.(photo credit: REUTERS/UMIT BEKTAS)
The Sudanese transitional government is slated to close the offices of foreign terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a report in the Middle East Eye.The Qatar-regime-financed online news outlet reported that, “A reliable Sudanese source close to [Prime Minister Abdallah] Hamdok’s office disclosed to Middle East Eye that the government will close the offices of foreign groups designated as terrorists by the US, including Hamas and Hezbollah.”According to the report, “The Sudanese source who spoke to MEE, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said: ‘The government will close the offices of Hamas and Hezbollah and any other Islamic group designated as terrorist groups that have a presence in Sudan, because Sudan has nothing actually to do with these groups – and the interests of Sudan are above everything.’”The Sudanese source added: “Actually, they have hidden their presence in the past few years, but we won’t tolerate any individual’s presence in the future.”The outlet said the action to evict Hamas and Hezbollah from the North African country was meant to convince the United States government to delist Sudan as a state-sponsor of terrorism. The US proscribed Sudan a state-sponsor of terrorism in 1993 after it hosted the now-deceased al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.In early December, the US and Sudan agreed to begin exchanging ambassadors again after more than two decades. US-Sudan relations have improved since the Sudanese people overthrew the dictatorship of former president Omar al-Bashir.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not address the terrorism classification at the time of Abdallah’s December visit.The US government said that Sudan has still not met the conditions for being delisted from its terrorism list, but that the country is making progress.Sudan accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike that killed two people in a car near the city of Port Sudan in 2011. In 2009, Sudan said that a convoy of human traffickers were hit by unidentified aircraft in the country.Then-prime minister Ehud Olmert said at the time: “We operate everywhere where we can hit terror infrastructure – in close places and in places further away.”
Arms smugglers have used Sudan as a pipeline to send weapons to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The EU and the US classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. The UK, US, Canada, the Arab League, the Netherlands and Israel designate the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist entity.In May, a Sudanese general announced a shift in its foreign policy to back Saudi Arabia instead of its traditional ally Iran. “Sudan is standing with the kingdom against all threats and attacks from Iran and Houthi militias,” said General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in his meeting with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.According to the US State Department entry on terrorism, “Sudan broke diplomatic relations with the United States in 1967 after the start of the Arab-Israeli War. Relations were reestablished in 1972. Sudan established links with international terrorist organizations resulting in the United States’ designation of Sudan as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1993 and the suspension of US Embassy operations in 1996. The US Embassy was reopened in 2002.”
