U.S.-Sudan Foreing Policy Relations

This paper is a study of foreign policy relations between the United States and Sudan. With the end of the Cold War, the United States has struggled to redefine its international responsibilities, and this has been particularly problematic in Africa. Sudan, the largest country on the continent, offers an excellent example of many issues facing the United States in this part of the world. Sudan's leaders have changed international allegiances, encouraged civil war, battled and exacerbated large-scale famine, and manipulated their financial base as they have struggled for power within the region. The problem for the United States is to find a balance in dealing with governmental regimes that are under siege, while trying to help ease long-term crises of civil war and famine that such regimes often help create. The United States must satisfy its own national interests while defining its role in its relations with Africa, the nearby Middle East, and the world as a whole.

Sudan emerged from colonial dominance as Africa's largest nation. Embracing the lower Nile and large stretches of desert and bordering nine other African nations and the Red Sea, Sudan has strategic importance but neither historical nor ethnic claims to consideration as a single, united African state. Clement Henry Moore writes, "Sudan's geographic expanse and demographic heterogeneity make it one of the least governable countries in Africa." Mark Duffield observes:

Outsiders could be forgiven for ha

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despread publicity, it has nevertheless served to lay down some of the guidelines for dealings with Sudan. Most of these dealings are financial, using existing legal channels. The State Department named Sudan as a state sponsor for international terrorism in August of 1993. Citing Sudan's links to terrorist training, organizations, and activities (including the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, in which some of the accused were discovered to be Sudanese nationals), the United States charged the Sudanese government under the Export Administration Act. Sudan is already unable to receive military or economic aid from the United States under both the Brooke Amendment and the Foreign Assistance Act. Declaration as a sponsor for international terrorism makes the Sudanese government ineligible for non-emergency assistance of any kind from the United States. U.S. foreign policy makes a regular practice of opposing loans or financial assistance of any kind to Sudan through the World Bank. The U.S. government has also worked to block Sudan's efforts to regain full membership as a member of the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, policy has continued to support humanitarian aid to the Sudanese, in an attempt to pr

Category: Foreign - U