On Thursday , Ambassador Scott Gration said the U.S. should remove Sudan from a list of states sponsoring terrorism and unwind sanctions imposed since 1993. Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gration said the sanctions are preventing the delivery of basic humanitarian aid and development of basic infrastructure in Sudan’s most desperate regions. He added that maintaining the sanctions would be a ‘political decision’ that is ’backed by no evidence.”
The civil war taking place in Darfur, Sudan, unlike the Second Sudanese Civil War, is believed to be an ethnic, rather than a religious war.
In July 2008, the International Criminal Court (ICC), accused the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. The court issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on 4 March 2009 on counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him for genocide. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state ever indicted by the ICC.
