US says Wagner provides missiles to RSF's terrorists

Report at Time Turk online

Dated Friday 26 May 2023; 12:37 - excerpt:

US accuses Russia’s Wagner of providing missiles to Sudan's paramilitary forces

Russia's Wagner Group ‘supplying Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces with surface-to-air missiles to fight against Sudan’s army,' says US Treasury Department

ISTANBUL - US Treasury Department accused Russia's private military company Wagner Group of providing missiles to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and “contributing to a prolonged armed conflict.”

This came on Thursday when the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wagner's head in Mali, Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov, blaming him for attempting to acquire weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine.

“Most recently in Sudan, the Wagner Group has been supplying Sudan's Rapid Support Forces with surface-to-air missiles to fight against Sudan's army, contributing to a prolonged armed conflict that only results in further chaos in the region,” a Treasury statement said.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Sudan's legitimate authorities have the right to use the services of the Wagner group.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced "deep concern" over the military company's activities in the war-torn country.

"It's in so many different countries, and in Africa, an element that, when it's engaged, simply brings more death and destruction with it," Blinken said during a joint press conference with his Kenyan counterpart Alfred Mutua.

View original: https://www.timeturk.com/en/us-accuses-russia-s-wagner-of-providing-missiles-to-sudan-s-paramilitary-forces/news-76159

[Ends]

From Russia with gold: UAE cashes in as sanctions bite

Report at Reuters.com

By Peter Hobson

Dated Thursday 25 May 2023; 12:05 PM GMT+1- full copy:

Exclusive: From Russia with gold: UAE cashes in as sanctions bite

Employees cast ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold during production at Krastsvetmet precious metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has become a key trade hub for Russian gold since Western sanctions over Ukraine cut Russia's more traditional export routes, Russian customs records show.

The records, which contain details of nearly a thousand gold shipments in the year since the Ukraine war started, show the Gulf state imported 75.7 tonnes of Russian gold worth $4.3 billion - up from just 1.3 tonnes during 2021.

China and Turkey were the next biggest destinations, importing about 20 tonnes each between Feb. 24, 2022 and March 3, 2023. With the UAE, the three countries accounted for 99.8% of the Russian gold exports in the customs data for this period.

In the days after the Ukraine conflict started, many multinational banks, logistics providers and precious metal refiners stopped handling Russian gold, which had typically been shipped to London, a gold trading and storage hub.

The London Bullion Market Association banned Russian bars made from March 7, 2022, and by the end of August, Britain, the European Union, Switzerland, the United States, Canada and Japan had all banned imports of Russian bullion.

The export records show, however, that Russian gold producers quickly found new markets in countries that had not imposed sanctions on Moscow, such as the UAE, Turkey and China.

Louis Marechal, a gold sourcing expert at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said there was a risk Russian gold could be melted down and recast and then find its way back into U.S. and European markets with its origin masked.

"If the Russian gold comes in, is recast by a local refiner, sourced by a local bank or trader and then sold on into the market, there you have a risk," he said. "This is why carrying out due diligence is instrumental to end buyers wishing to ensure they respect sanctions regimes."

The UAE government's Gold Bullion Committee said the state operated with clear and robust processes against illicit goods, money laundering and sanctioned entities.

"The UAE will continue to trade openly and honestly, with its international partners, in compliance with all current international norms as set down by the United Nations," it said.

THRIVING GOLD HUB

In a bid to further isolate Russia, Washington has warned countries, including the UAE and Turkey, they could lose access to G7 markets if they do business with entities subject to U.S. sanctions.

The data reviewed by Reuters does not suggest there has been any violation of U.S. sanctions by those countries.

The U.S. Treasury, whose Office of Foreign Assets Control enforces sanctions, did not respond to requests for comment.

The shipments in the customs data, supplied to Reuters by a commercial provider, show exports of 116.3 tonnes between Feb. 24, 2022 and March 3 this year, although consultant Metals Focus estimates Russia produced 325 tonnes of gold in 2022.

The rest of the gold dug in Russia likely either stayed in the country or was exported in transactions not included in the records. Reuters was unable to determine what proportion of Russia's total gold exports were covered by the data.

Most of the Russian gold shipments to China went to Hong Kong. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country's cooperation with Russia "shall be free from disruption or coercion from any third party".

Turkey's finance ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The Russian government, customs authority and central bank did not respond to requests for comment about gold exports.

The shift in Russian exports away from London is not seen as a major blow as the hub is not reliant on Russia. In 2021, for example, gold from Russia accounted for 29% of London's imports but in 2018 it made up just 2%, British trade data shows.

The UAE, meanwhile, has long had a thriving gold industry. Trade data show it imported about 750 tonnes of pure gold a year on average between 2016 and 2021 - meaning the shipments in the Russian records would only account for about 10% of its imports.

The UAE is a major exporter of bullion and jewellery.

DISCOUNT PRICES

The manager of one company that shipped large amounts of Russian gold to the UAE told Reuters that Russian firms had been selling bullion there at a discount of about 1% to global benchmark prices, offering an incentive to trade.

The manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said most of the gold his firm shipped to the UAE was destined for refineries, where it would be melted down and recast.

Reuters asked four of Russia's largest gold miners for comment. Nordgold and Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM) declined to comment. Polyus (PLZL.MM) and Polymetal did not respond.

For a FACTBOX with details about some of the main companies involved in Russian gold shipments since the Ukraine war started, click here.

In many cases, the customs records show only shippers or traders involved in the transactions, not the end buyer, which could be a refiner, jeweller or investor.

The records show the biggest handler of Russian gold exported to the UAE was Temis Luxury Middle East, a Dubai subsidiary of French logistics firm Temis Luxury involved in the shipment of 15.6 tonnes valued at $863 million from April 2022 to March 3.

Broca Houy, head of compliance at Temis Luxury Group, said the company "fully complies with the laws and regulations of the United Arab Emirates for freight forwarder business".

He said Temis did not buy Russian gold and only accepted transport orders from operators not subject to U.S. sanctions.

Asked about the shipments, France's finance ministry said it would not comment on individual cases but it was very committed to the application of sanctions.

European sanctions do not typically apply to overseas subsidiaries, so European firms whose subsidiaries were involved in shipments of Russian gold to the UAE, Turkey or Hong Kong would not have necessarily broken any laws, said Tan Albayrak, a sanctions lawyer at Reed Smith in London.

The second-largest handler of Russian bullion in the UAE, with involvement in shipments of 14.6 tonnes worth $820 million, was logistics firm Transguard, part of the Emirates Group, the airline-to-hotels company owned by the Gulf state's wealth fund.

Emirates said it had not bought any Russian gold, operated in full compliance with applicable laws and had now stopped transporting it.

"Due to recent regulatory developments, Transguard is no longer providing logistics services pertaining to shipments of gold to or from Russia," it said.

In Hong Kong, most Russian gold shipments were handled by Vpower Finance Security Hong Kong Ltd, a Chinese logistics company. It was involved in the import of 20.5 tonnes of gold worth $1.2 billion between May 2022 and March 3, the records show.

Vpower Finance Security did not respond to requests for comment.

Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Layli Foroudi in Paris and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by David Clarke

View original: https://www.reuters.com/markets/russia-with-gold-uae-cashes-sanctions-bite-2023-05-25/

[Ends] 

Statement: President Biden on the Conflict in Sudan. Orders sanctions against people destabilising Sudan

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: The news here below is good. Hemeti can't read it. He's a 3rd grade school drop-out and semi-illiterate. His bifocals are probably part of his million dollar make-over to help him appear intelligent and statesmanlike and fit in with the elite in Khartoum who see him as a "country bumpkin". The pen is mightier than the sword. God bless America!

_______________________________________________________________________________

Report from The Washington Times

By Jeff Mordock 

Thursday 04 May 2023 - full copy:

Biden authorizes sanctions against people destabilizing Sudan

President Biden on Thursday ordered new sanctions on those responsible for the violence and chaos that has gripped Sudan.

The directive doesn’t specifically identify whom the administration will sanction but likely targets members of the Sudanese armed forces and their rival rapid support forces. Both sides have sunk the country into chaos as they vie for control.

In a statement, Mr. Biden said the order will “hold individuals responsible for threatening the peace, security and stability of Sudan, undermining Sudan‘s democratic transition, using violence against civilians or committing human rights abuses.”

“The Sudanese people suffered 30 years under an authoritarian regime — but they never gave up on their commitment to democracy or their hope for a better future,” Mr. Biden said.

The conflict began on April 15 after months of escalating tensions between the two factions. It has turned parts of the nation into war zones, and foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate their officials from Sudan.

Several nations, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and some in East Africa, have floated a truce, but both sides seem disinterested in ending the battles.

International rights organizations have criticized the U.S. and other Western countries for not sooner implementing sanctions against the military leaders in Sudan.

Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.

View original: 

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/may/4/biden-authorizes-sanctions-against-people-destabil/

_______________________________________________________________________________

Report from CNN

By Sam Fossum, CNN

Thursday 04 May 2023 3:19 PM EDT - excerpt:

Biden authorizes future sanctions tied to conflict in Sudan

President Joe Biden laid the groundwork for future sanctions targeted toward the current violence in Sudan that has left hundreds dead and sparked a humanitarian crisis that poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” according to the administration. 

The executive order signed by Biden on Thursday authorizes future sanctions against individuals determined to be destabilizing the country and “undermining Sudan’s democratic transition,” as well as committing violence against civilians or perpetuating other human rights abuses. [...]

The administration has not yet imposed sanctions using the new executive order, US officials said.

View original: 

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/04/politics/biden-sudan-conflict-future-sanctions/index.html

_______________________________________________________________________________

Report from The Hill

BY BRAD DRESS - 05/04/23 6:28 PM ET - excerpt:

Biden sets stage for sanctions in embattled Sudan

US could soon sanction Sudanese individuals

The executive order signed by President Biden does not sanction any Sudanese individuals but does clear the way for future action, said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.

 

“I wouldn’t read it as a warning,” Kirby said. “It’s the president setting up the proper authorities in case we want to use those kinds of tools.”

View original: 

https://thehill.com/newsletters/defense-national-security/3989190-biden-sets-stage-for-sanctions-in-embattled-sudan/

_______________________________________________________________________________

Related reports

From The White House

Thursday 04 May 2023 - full copy:

Statement from President Joe Biden on the Conflict in Sudan

The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy—and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people’s clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy.  I join the peace-loving people of Sudan and leaders around the world in calling for a durable ceasefire between the belligerent parties.  This violence, which has already stolen the lives of hundreds of civilians and began during the holy month of Ramadan, is unconscionable.  It must end.

Since the earliest moments of this conflict, the United States has facilitated the safe departure of thousands of people – Americans and others – by land, sea, and air and conducted intensive negotiations to de-escalate violence. Our diplomatic efforts to urge all parties to end the military conflict and allow unhindered humanitarian access continue, as do our efforts to assist those remaining Americans, including by providing them information on exit options. The United States is already responding to this unfolding humanitarian crisis and stands ready to support enhanced humanitarian assistance when conditions allow.

The United States stands with the people of Sudan—and we are acting to support their commitment to a future of peace and opportunity.  Today, I issued a new Executive Order that expands U.S. authorities to respond to the violence that began on April 15 with sanctions that hold individuals responsible for threatening the peace, security, and stability of Sudan; undermining Sudan’s democratic transition; using violence against civilians; or committing serious human rights abuses. 

The Sudanese people suffered thirty years under an authoritarian regime—but they never gave up on their commitment to democracy or their hope for a better future.  Their dedication brought down a dictator, only to endure a military takeover in October 2021, and now more violence among factions fighting for control.  

View original: 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/04/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-conflict-in-sudan/

_______________________________________________________________________________

From The White House

04 May 2023

Executive Order on Imposing Sanctions on Certain Persons Destabilizing Sudan and Undermining the Goal of a Democratic Transition

View original:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/05/04/executive-order-on-imposing-sanctions-on-certain-persons-destabilizing-sudan-and-undermining-the-goal-of-a-democratic-transition/

_______________________________________________________________________________

[Ends]

Sudan: UN chief wants Sudan dropped from terror list

Getty Images/BBC World Service

UN chief Mr Antonio Guterres said post-Bashir Sudan needs support in its political transition 

UN chief wants Sudan dropped from terror list

Report by BBC World Service

Dated 10 February 2020 5:08

The UN's Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has told African leaders that it's time to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Addressing the annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Mr Guterres said the UN would drum up international support that would enable the country to overcome its challenges.

Sudan is being welcomed back into the international fold following the toppling last year of the former president, Omar al-Bashir.

The leaders at the summit will discuss an African-led peace effort to end the civil war in Libya.

They will also consider how to tackle worsening militant insurgencies across Africa.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cq23pdgvgm8t/sudan

Sudan: Divided rebel groups in W. Sudan blamed for hampering regional & international efforts in Darfur

News report from and by Sudan Tribune.com

Dated Saturday 31 August 2019

Darfur armed groups agree to unify peace negotiating position

August 31, 2019 (KHARTOUM) - Four armed groups in Sudan’s Darfur region have agreed to unify their negotiating position before to engage in talks with the transitional government in the near future.

The joint statement was signed by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM), Sudan Liberation Movement - Transitional Council (SLM-TC), and the Sudan Liberation Forces Alliance (SLFA) from the South Sudanese capital on Saturday.

The four groups are participating in consultation meetings hosted by the South Sudanese government within its efforts to facilitate a comprehensive peace process to settle the armed conflicts in Darfur, the Blue Nile and South Kordofan, three regions on the common border between the two Sudans.

The joint statement reaffirmed that peace remains their first strategic choice, stressing that it should address the root causes of the Sudanese problem and tackle the effects of war and marginalization.

Further, JEM, SLM-MM, SLM-TC and SLFA said they will participate in the "peace negotiations with one negotiating position and a joint negotiating delegation".

In the same trend, they pledged to consult and unify their political positions towards all national issues.

More, they renewed their commitment to the declaration of a cessation of hostilities to create a conducive environment for peace.

The divided armed groups in the western Sudan region have been blamed for hampering regional and international efforts in Darfur.

In 2017, the United States decided the lift of economic sanctions on Sudan and refused calls to wait until a peace deal is struck in Darfur blaming the armed groups of obstructing peace.

"We reject all methods of exclusion practised by the Center on the pretext of efficiency and refusal of quotas".

The JEM, SLM-MM and SLM-TC are part of the Forces for Freedom and Change but the large coalition refused their demand to allocate them a quota in the transitional cabinet.

In reaction, the forces of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front refused to endorse the Political Agreement and the Constitutional Declaration. 

SOURCE:  http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article68031

Sudan: PM Hamdok needs to curtail defence budget - Imposing cuts on the generals is a perilous assignment

Article from the BBC 

By Alex De Waal, Sudan analyst

Dated 28 August 2019

Sudan crisis: Activists achieve 'big win' over generals

Sudan's pro-democracy movement has achieved its biggest victory - getting the junta to agree to a civilian government.

The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) have hammered out a deal with the generals who took power after the fall of long-serving ruler Omar al-Bashir.

They have agreed to a 39-month transitional period. During this time, Sudan's ultimate authority will be a Sovereign Council of five civilians and five generals, with an eleventh member to chair it - initially a soldier, later a civilian.

A technocratic government is being set up and an interim national assembly appointed.

Negotiating the power-sharing formula was hard enough - solving Sudan's deep-seated political and economic problems is going to be harder still.

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is under no illusions about the challenge he faces.

He is not a politician. He is an economist, a technocrat who has spent the last decades in the African Development Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Over the coming days he is expected to appoint a cabinet of similarly impartial and competent technocrats.

In a speech after taking office, Mr Hamdok identified his two priorities - the economy and peace.

International goodwill

Sudan is deep in economic crisis. The protesters who brought down Mr Bashir took to the streets in December because the cost of living had become too high.

People relying on salaries could no longer afford bread; traders and farmers couldn't buy fuel; banks and ATMs were rationing paltry amounts of cash.

Inflation and shortages have a long-term effect on government debt, which is already enormous - over $50bn, more than 60% of gross domestic product.

And Sudan is experiencing a chronic foreign exchange shortage, after the loss of most of its oilfields when the south seceded in 2011.

Many Sudanese complain that the economy is in dire straits

Sudan missed out on the Jubilee 2000 campaign to cancel the debt of poor nations because it was under UN sanctions for human rights abuses, and US financial sanctions for a "state sponsor of terrorism" after the Bashir regime harboured killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden between 1991 and 1996.

Other highly-indebted countries have taken years to negotiate debt forgiveness - the Hamdok administration will need to do this in just a few month if the government is to obtain the funds it needs turn around the current macroeconomic crisis.

He has goodwill on his side. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have bankrolled the Sudanese generals.

However, they will need to switch from cash handouts and gifts of food, fuel and medicine to supporting a coordinated plan for restoring Sudan to the good graces of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Hamdok said he had already started talks with the two bodies to discuss restructuring Sudan's crippling debt.

The US will also need to remove Sudan from the state sponsors of terror list, thereby lifting the de facto ban on Sudan's access to the dollar-based international financial system.

That is just the beginning. Since oil revenues abruptly ended eight years ago, the main foreign exchange earners have been gold and the income from troop deployments in Yemen in support of Saudi forces.

Both of these have allegedly fed corruption - and any investigation is likely to focus on General Mohamed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagolo, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the de facto strongman among the military cabal.

He has promised to abide by the decisions of the civilian government, but whether he will countenance reforms that unravel his business empire - including huge interests in gold mining and export - remains to be seen.

Mr Hamdok also needs to curtail the defence budget, which eats up more than half of government spending, but imposing cuts on the generals is a perilous assignment.

The other big file on the new prime minister's desk is peace with the armed rebels. Though there have been ceasefires in place, long-running wars in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile are not resolved.

Rebels rebuffed

There are three main rebel groups in Darfur and a separate insurgency in South Kordofan and Blue Nile by the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North, a legacy of the earlier north-south war, in which the non-Arab peoples of these areas joined their southern brethren in fighting against Khartoum.

These rebel forces are also split into two factions. Mercifully, the rebels are not fighting one another, but getting them to agree has eluded mediators for years.

People are demanding justice for loved ones killed by the security forces

The armed groups are aggrieved that their agenda of a better deal for Sudan's marginalized peoples was short-changed by the power-sharing deal between the generals and the FCC.

They had demanded representation in the Sovereign Council and a bigger say in the negotiations for a civilian government - and were rebuffed.

Mr Hamdok is well-placed to talk to the rebels. He is from western Kordofan himself, a marginalized area, and has advised African and UN mediators working on Sudan, as well as the rebel leaders themselves.

And the leaders of the armed groups know well that the new government is their best chance for peace. If they miss it they may need to wait another decade or longer.

One issue that will need careful handling is accountability for human rights abuses and corruption.

Mr Bashir was in court last week on the charge of illegally possessing foreign currency.

The generals fear that more ambitious charges such as human rights violations will implicate them too.

Courageous protesters

They would strenuously oppose extraditing Mr Bashir to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is wanted on war crimes charges.

But many pro-democracy demonstrators, who have amply shown their determination and courage on the streets, demand justice.

This includes a proper investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the 3 June massacre in which RSF fighters and security officers killed between 80 and 120 civilians.

The finger of culpability points to the generals in the Sovereign Council.

But indicting them would upset the fragile power-sharing deal. Whatever approach he takes, Mr Hamdok will be harshly criticized by one side or the other.

To deliver on the goals of Sudan's revolution, he will need all of his skills, a lot of goodwill, and a dose of good luck.

Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the US.

SOURCE:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-49464535

More on Sudan's crisis:

• The ruthless gold mercenaries who run Sudan
• Rape and revolution
• The art fuelling Sudan's revolution

Why Sudan and South Sudan are a US CIA favourite

Note from Sudan Watch Editor: Copied here below is an astonishing article. Since 2004 I have lost count of the number of times that the US promised to remove Sudan from the state sponsors of terror list and lift sanctions in exchange for action that included behaviour.  

The more intelligence that the US wanted to squeeze from Sudan in pursuit of Al Qaeda, Bin Laden et al, the more it dangled a carrot. The US never followed through. Who can blame Sudan for feeling stung. 

Also, the article explains how the US was behind splitting Sudan apart. It makes me feel sick to read what went on behind the scenes while millions of Sudanese were terrorised, displaced, maimed, starved, killed.

Hat tip to Justin Lynch for such candid reporting. Note the date of report. Yellow highlighting is mine.

Article from The Daily Beast

Written by JUSTIN LYNCH

Dated 09 January 2019 4:50AM ET

Why is Sudan’s Genocidal Regime a CIA Favorite?

Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters

One of the most respected American diplomats to work in Africa, Princeton Lyman, was set to meet in September 2012 with members of a Sudanese plot to overthrow President Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of genocide in Darfur.

For hours Lyman waited in an opulent hotel overlooking the Nile River in Cairo for Salah Gosh, Sudan’s former director of national security and at one time a CIA collaborator, who was a participant in the plan.

As the State Department’s special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Lyman had tentatively exchanged messages with the plot’s members for months. Lyman described the group to me as military men who felt “they had been professionally betrayed” by Bashir’s leadership. The Sudanese men reached out to Lyman in early 2012 as discontent was growing inside the military. Accused of genocide, funding terrorism, and waging war against South Sudan, Khartoum was seen as a problem-child of a global order. No longer, said the army officials, who wanted to see if the Americans would recognize a military takeover in Sudan, even though under U.S. law such recognition was illegal.

“I was very conscious of the fact that you could not have the United States policy for the overthrow of even an indicted [leader],” Lyman told me. But he believed that the United States should engage with anyone seeking reform in Sudan, especially if the change could come with a minimum of chaos and carnage.

Weeks earlier, Lyman gave a speech including language for the plotters that laid out what a new relationship would look like. It was a diplomatic high-wire act that did not explicitly support the coup, but embraced change if it came.

“The government would show itself to be accountable, committed to democracy, to respect for human rights,” Lyman said Aug. 1, 2012, according to his prepared remarks. “I can imagine a Sudan Armed Forces no longer as one in violation of international norms but one taking its place as a highly regarded professional military.”

Lyman ended with a flourish. “If it comes to pass, the United States will respond.”

As diplomatic signals go, few are more blunt.

Back in Cairo a few weeks later on the September day at the hotel, Lyman waited to meet Gosh. And waited. Lyman told me that Gosh was pulled into the plot at the late stages to give it a political face and he did not hatch the plan himself. But Gosh never appeared for the meeting. Lyman returned home dejected, and did not communicate again with the group.

Bashir uncovered the plot. Gosh was detained. But the American involvement has never been revealed until now.

The United States offered no military, financial or any other form of support to the plan—only a promise that the American government would engage with the new leaders if the plot took place. Yet the fact Lyman met with participants in a plot already set in motion is a sign of the intimate American relationship that exists with top Sudanese military and political figures.

Lyman told The Daily Beast these details days before he passed away in August last year. He shared the story, he said, because he thought it showed the importance of meeting with anyone who pursued reform in Sudan and demonstrated the risks diplomats should take, and do take, in the name of peace. His account was confirmed and expanded on by Colin Thomas-Jensen, Lyman’s special adviser at the time, and others who are familiar with the events.

Today, new protests in Sudan are approaching a new boiling point, and Lyman’s story is history. But it suggests the still very relevant and largely untold story of the relationship between Sudan and the United States—ties largely based on the clout of the powerful intelligence services in both the Trump and Obama administrations.

This article is based in part on interviews and documents from 13 current and former American officials serving in the State Department, Pentagon, CIA, and other areas of the U.S. government.

The CIA declined to comment. The White House referred questions to the State Department. The State Department is under furlough, but in a January 8 joint press release with other countries said that it was “appalled by reports of deaths and serious injury to those exercising their legitimate right to protest,” adding that its future engagement will depend on the government’s “actions and decisions.”

The current mass protests, which began in December, have spread across Sudan and threaten to topple the three-decade rule of Bashir. Demonstrators have adopted the chorus of "the people demand the fall of the regime," a slogan from the 2011 Arab Spring protests. Security forces have killed at least 37 protesters, according to a December 24 release by Amnesty International. Citing the Sudanese interior minister, the Associated Press reported that 816 people have been arrested.

“These protests are as serious as can be,” said Alex De Waal, professor at Tufts University and author of seven books on Sudan. “Any next steps involve one of two things. Either it is for Bashir to step down gracefully and be assured his safety by a regional body, or it would be through a takeover from a coalition of military and army officials.”

Gosh, who is now head of Sudan’s intelligence service, is seen under the circumstances as a potential king-maker. His relationship with the CIA and other intelligence services is well known. He was chauffeured to Washington on a private jet in 2005 to discuss intelligence cooperation and the situation in Darfur which then-Secretary of State Colin Powell had acknowledged as a “genocide“ in September 2004.

Even after some details of the half-baked plot of 2012 were uncovered, Gosh managed to climb back into Bashir’s inner circle in 2018 with support from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

“The extent to which the U.S. is conveying any messages that are shaping thinking in Khartoum is likely entirely dependent on what the CIA is saying to Salah Gosh,” said a former U.S. official familiar with the situation.

Although Sudan has been listed as a state sponsor of terror since 1993 and the U.S. has accused al-Bashir more than once of genocide for his government’s actions in Darfur, cooperation between the two countries has been close on particular issues that Washington sees as a priority, particularly the fight against terrorist jihadis.

After the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., Sudan—which had sheltered Osama bin Laden in the 1990s—cooperated closely in the hunt for al Qaeda operatives. Afraid they might be next on the list of countries targeted as an “axis of evil,” Sudanese forces conducted counter-terrorism missions to stop the flow of militants from West Africa to Iraq, where some tried to join the jihad against U.S. forces on the ground there.

Although his secretary of state had accused Bashir of genocide in Darfur, where his regime which anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 people, former President George W. Bush was secretly in contact with the Sudanese leader, according to a Bush White House official. That included a phone call in January 2005, when the intelligence community learned that Bashir was wavering over whether he should sign a deal to give South Sudan independence. Bush eventually convinced Bashir to sign the agreement.

The relationship gained an added dimension after the 2011 civil war in Libya created a constellation of militant groups. With its strategic location nestled on the southern border of Libya, Sudan’s counter-terrorism ties with America blossomed. Talks were held repeatedly to reform the political relationship with Sudan.

Although the United States promised to remove Sudan from the state sponsors of terror list and lift sanctions in exchange for actions that included good behavior, the Americans never followed through. The Sudanese felt suckered by the Americans, according to Lyman and current and former U.S. officials involved in the talks.

An inflection point in the American-Sudanese intelligence relationship came in 2015 when Sudan dramatically reduced its counterterrorism collaboration with the Americans.

Then-CIA director John Brennan was one of the biggest advocates for reform of the American-Sudanese relationship. Sudan “cut their C.T. cooperation, and then Brennan calls whoever and says ‘What the fuck, why aren’t these guys cooperating with me?’ I think they have a sense of how to create a little tension inside the U.S. government,” a former Obama administration official said. “There was a scream from across the river [at the CIA]: ‘We need this relationship, isn’t there anything we can do?’”

For the CIA and the Pentagon, clandestine access to Libya and information regarding al-Shabaab leaders who were educated in Khartoum was considered highly valuable.

Under then-National Security Adviser Susan Rice, the White House began a process to restore relations with Sudan. As one of the last acts of the Obama administration in January 2017, the United States began a five-track process to restore relations that depend on humanitarian access, stopping violence and counter-terrorism collaboration.  

That process has expanded under the Trump administration, and in late-October the United States entered a second re-engagement with Sudan.

That normalized relations with Sudan is a foreign policy goal with rare bipartisan support of both the Obama and Trump administrations is in no small part due to the former CIA officials serving in both the Obama and Trump White Houses who value the counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing benefits of closer diplomatic engagement, according to current and former officials involved in internal deliberations of both administrations.

State Department officials said that normalized relations with Sudan depend on the fulfillment of conditions laid out in its agreement, which include human rights and humanitarian access.

However, those inside the U.S. government opposed to the plan doubt the Sudanese are offering substantial intelligence cooperation. These American officials argue it sends a bad signal that a genocidal regime can be welcomed back into the international community. And they say normalized relations unfairly reward Khartoum as it still supports some terrorist actors or and continues to wage war against its own people.

A decision to fully restore relations may be on the horizon, nonetheless. The Trump administration agreed with Sudanese officials to end the second phase of the re-engagement plan in August 2019, although that timeline could shift based on Khartoum’s compliance, according to a current official and another former official familiar with the matter.

But Congress, which has the ability to block the action, has not yet been informed of the timeline, according to a Senate aide.

A fully restored relationship with Sudan would be a sign of how influential the CIA has become with the Arab state.

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, having the intelligence community play the preponderant role in shaping and executing policy toward Sudan has actually been the exception rather than the rule in the post-9/11 period, and only became the case in the last two years of the Obama administration and now under President Trump,” said the former American official who discussed the CIA’s potential communications with Gosh.

For the Sudanese government, restored relations would be cause for celebration.

As midterm election results rolled in on the night of Nov. 6, Sudanese foreign minister Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed held court in the Fairmont Hotel in the Georgetown District of Washington D.C. He had just met with the State Department to discuss restoring relations. But Dirdeiry, as American officials call him, barely touched the glass of water in front of him as he jabbered at two reporters.

“The United States is definitely a very important state in the world, and we would like to have good relations with it,” Dirdeiry said. “The level of cooperation that Sudan is having with the United States in particular and also there in the region at large in countering terrorism is exemplary.”

SOURCE: https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-is-sudans-genocidal-regime-a-cia-favorite