Sudan Sanctions Enriched the Powerful at the Expense of the Weak

Twenty years ago, the U.S. imposed a strict trade embargo against Sudan. The East African country served as a safe haven for Osama bin Laden, who lived there for five years before being expelled in 1996. In 2009, President Omar al Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court, for atrocities committed in Darfur—where the United Nations says up to 300,000 people may have died and millions been displaced since 2003—ensuring sanctions remained in place long after the country turned its back on extremists.

Now, after two decades of economic isolation, Sudan is being allowed to rejoin the world economy. On Oct. 6, the Trump administration announced it was ending U.S. sanctions against Sudan, a policy change that the Obama administration recommended in its last days in office. Citing Sudan’s cooperation in combating terrorism and ending internal conflicts, the current administration hopes that a normalization of ties will encourage further reforms. Since then, the State Department has raised the possibility of removing the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, although to do so it would have to get past a long-standing, bipartisan caucus in Congress that has advocated a hard-line stance toward Khartoum.