\n Washington once labelled Khartoum a hub of the \"axis of evil\", but relations between the US and Sudan have warmed since hardline Islamist president Omar al-Bashir was toppled last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Friday, US President Donald Trump formally moved to delist Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism, as he announced Sudan was normalising relations with Israel.\n<\/p>\n
\n The White House said Sudan's civilian-backed transitional government had deposited $335 million as part of an agreement to compensate survivors and family members of attacks that took place when former Bashir welcomed Al-Qaeda.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is a recap its fractious relationship with the US over the last three decades:\n<\/p>\n
\n - Bin Laden and Carlos -\n<\/p>\n
\n After Omar al-Bashir takes power in a coup in June 1989 supported by Islamists, the country becomes a haven for jihadists, including Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sudan also hosts Illich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, one of the world's most-wanted men for his involvement in international terror in the 1970s and 1980s.\n<\/p>\n
\n 1993: The US puts Sudan on its blacklist of countries it accuses of supporting terrorism.\n<\/p>\n
\n 1994: Carlos the Jackal is seized in Khartoum by French intelligence agents, after Sudan does a secret deal with the US and France.\n<\/p>\n
\n 1996: Washington closes its Khartoum embassy after international sanctions are imposed on Sudan.\n<\/p>\n
\n An economic embargo follows.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Bombings and 9\/11 -\n<\/p>\n
\n 1998: US bombs a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum in retaliation for Al-Qaeda attacks on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.\n<\/p>\n
\n Washington claims the plant is linked to chemical weapons, which Sudan vehemently denies.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2001: Khartoum condemns the September 11 attacks on the US and says it supports the fight against terror.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2003: US and British flags are burned in Khartoum during protests against the US invasion of Iraq.\n<\/p>\n
\n The following year, crowds burn effigies of US president George W. Bush and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, after Israel's assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Carrot and stick -\n<\/p>\n
\n June 2004: US secretary of state Colin Powell becomes the most senior US official to visit Sudan since 1978 for talks on the conflict in the western Darfur region, which he calls a \"genocide\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The rapprochement continues when his successor Condoleezza Rice visits the following year.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2006-2007: US sanctions are toughened.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2008: A US diplomat and his driver are shot dead in Khartoum. Four Islamists are condemned to death for the killings.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2009: Khartoum hopes for \"real change\" with arrival of president Barack Obama, but he takes a carrot-and-stick approach.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2010: US sanctions prolonged.\n<\/p>\n
\n - South Sudan wins independence -\n<\/p>\n
\n January 2011: US says it is ready to normalise relations if the Christian-majority South Sudan can break away peacefully.\n<\/p>\n
\n July 2011: Both Washington and Khartoum recognise South Sudan on the day of its independence.\n<\/p>\n
\n September 2011: Khartoum demands to be removed from the terrorism blacklist, but the US says violence in Sudan's Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states must stop.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Enter George Clooney -\n<\/p>\n
\n March 2012: Washington calls for Sudan to allow humanitarian aid into Southern Kordofan, with Hollywood star George Clooney accusing Khartoum of crimes against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n August 2012: After Sudan and newly independent South Sudan clash in oil-rich border zones, secretary of state Hillary Clinton urges both sides to end the violence.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2013: Washington calls Bashir's request for a US visa to attend the UN \"deplorable\". Bashir is wanted to face trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur.\n<\/p>\n
\n 2014: The US condemns atrocities committed by pro-government militias in Darfur, and air strikes on civilians in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Bashir deposed -\n<\/p>\n
\n October 2017: the US ends its 20-year-old trade embargo against Sudan, but keeps Khartoum on its terrorism list.\n<\/p>\n
\n April 2019: Washington welcomes the fall of Bashir, who is arrested by the military after four months of street protests.\n<\/p>\n
\n December: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says a US ambassador will be sent to Khartoum for the first time in 23 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sudan is also taken off its religious freedom blacklist of \"countries of particular concern\".\n<\/p>\n
\n February 2020: Sudan agrees to compensate the families of 17 US sailors killed off Yemen in an Al-Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in 2000.\n<\/p>\n
\n A similar deal for the relatives of those killed in the 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam is also in the pipeline, it says.\n<\/p>\n
\n The US accused Sudan of aiding the militants who carried out the attacks, but while Khartoum denies any involvement, it accepts paying compensation if Washington removes it from the blacklist.\n<\/p>\n
\n General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads Sudan's transitional sovereign council, is invited to Washington. The same month Burhan meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda.\n<\/p>\n
\n October 2020: Trump announces he will move to delist Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism, and announces Sudan is normalising relations with Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington once labelled Khartoum a hub of the \"axis of evil\", but relations between the US and Sudan have warmed since hardline Islamist president Omar al-Bashir was toppled last year. On Friday, US President Donald Trump formally moved to delist Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism, as he announced Sudan was normalising relations with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-45756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n