News Article by REUTERS posted on January 25, 2001 at 09:15:15: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan's Bashir gets message from Bush, paper says
KHARTOUM, Jan 25 (Reuters) - New U.S. President George W.
Bush has sent a message to Sudanese President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir, signalling a possible thaw in relations, a Sudanese
newspaper said on Thursday.
The message, due to be presented to Bashir on Thursday by
the U.S. charge d'affaires in Khartoum, comes in response to a
goodwill message Bashir sent Bush last month after he was named
U.S. president-elect, the independent al-Rai al-Aam said.
Bush's response indicates a willingness by both sides "to
open a new page in bilateral relations between Khartoum and
Washington to overcome the deterioration that characterised the
recent period of time," the paper said. It n among states
sponsoring international terrorism since 1993, a status that had
been proposed during the administration of Bush's father and
fellow Republican, former U.S. President George Bush.
The United States has banned Americans from financial
dealings with countries on the terrorism list since 1996 and in
1997 Washington imposed a trade ban on Sudan, a war-torn African
country of some 30 million people.
Sudan expelled a U.S. diplomat last month for meeting
opposition politicians in Khartoum. The government was already
annoyed by a U.S. official's visit to the south, where rebels
have been fighting since 1983 for autonomy, and by a U.S.
campaign to block Sudan's bid for a seat on the U.N. Security
Council |
