By MAWAHIB ABDALLATIF

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The US Congress has endorsed Washington’s decision to restore sovereign immunity due to Sudan, just a week after the country was officially removed from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The Sudanese Ministry of Justice issued a statement on Tuesday after Congress approved the Law to Restore Sudan's Sovereign Immunity on Monday, which also authorises Washington to release urgent financial aid to Sudan.

It means the US will continue supporting the democratic transition of the civilian government in Sudan by enabling Khartoum to access international lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and providing $700 million in aid and debt exemptions estimated at $ 230 million.

The move came after Sudan settled fines imposed by an American court to pay victims of the August 1998 twin terror attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, whose al-Qaeda masterminds had received training in Sudan during Omar al-Bashir’s reign. At least 224 people died in the two incidents and another 4,000 were injured.

Last week, the US formally lifted sanctions on Sudan, 27 years after Khartoum was listed as a sponsor of terrorism.

The legislation endorsed the deal between Sudan and the US, known as the Settlement Agreement, in which Khartoum was to settle dues for victims of the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the attack on the US Missile destroyer USS Cole in October 2000 near Yemen in which 17 people were killed.

“The government of Sudan paid $ 335 million in exchange for removing Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism as a first step.

“It was followed by the cancellation of the judicial rulings issued against Sudan in those cases, which decided that Sudan pays a higher amount in fines, of about $10.2 billion, which will restore Sudan's sovereign immunity regarding any future trials related to the period in which Sudan was on the list of state sponsors of terrorism,” the Sudan Justice Ministry said.

According to the statement, “the legal status of Sudan after the entry into force of the legislation that was approved is that it will become a country with full sovereign immunity to any future attempts to litigate against it based on its previous status as a state that was included in the list of states sponsoring terrorism”.

Sudan's restoration of sovereign immunity means the US government will not sue Khartoum for cases related to past terror acts Sudan had been associated with. However, it retains the rights of victims of the September 11 attacks and their families to file lawsuits or to complete other cases related to Sudan’s presumed role in the attacks because of its hosting all-Qaeda leaders.

Then al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden planned the September 11, 2001 attacks where terror merchants hijacked two commercial airliners and flew them into the Twin towers at the World Trade Centre. Bin Laden was killed in May 2011 in a hideout in Pakistan, but he had lived in Sudan in the 1990s for five years before going to Afghanistan.

Key sponsors of the legislation, Democratic senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez, however, said the decision to lift sanctions against Sudan is confirmation that Washington will work closely with Khartoum from now on.

After the passage of legislation to restore immunity in Congress, US President Donald Trump is expected to sign it, making it formal.

This step comes after the United States announced, on December 14, the name of Sudan was officially removed from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.