Sudan Vision quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on how US-Sudanese relations could be improved in 2016 through lifting US sanctions on Sudan:
Another reason for Optimism is the increasing awareness in the US of the need to change Sudan-related policies. Writing in The Hill (16 December) Dr. J. Peter Pham, Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center who has criticised the Sudan often in the past , published a long article :Time to Revisit America’s Sanctions on Sudan. He quoted the $8.9 billion penalty against the French bank BNP as well as the impact on vulnerable people .He gave the example of obstacles facing the spare parts to ensure clean water supply in Omdurman.and wrote that they contradicted the US administration’s own “Strategy towards sub-Saharan Africa” that promised to promote sustainable access to clean water. Dr J.Pham went on to highlight the recent report by the UN HRCouncil’s on unilateral coercive measures. He described the author of the report as”a widely respected diplomat and international civil servant”. He concludes by urging a review of America’s economic embargo on the Sudan. We know of course that Congress has to approve any change of policy, and we know that it is full of politicians like those competing for Republican Party Presidential nomination; but we also know that the policy towards Cuba and Iran was changed. We have many reasons to approach the New Year with a sense of hope that is based on concrete facts. Some marginal sanctions have already been lifted. Moreover, the EU including the UK which knows the Sudan best, China ,Russia ,India and Brazil have no sanctions on the Sudan.