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- The US is deeply troubled by the lack of transparency in the legal process in Sudan.
- There is an R87 million reward for information leading to the arrest of two terrorists linked to the killing of two USAID workers in 2008.
- A Somalia summit resolved to go ahead with a "final push" to decapitate Al Shabaab.
The US is at loggerheads with Sudan over the release from prison of a man marked as a "specially designated global terrorist" for the murder of two aid workers in 2008.
Abdel-Ra'uf Abuzaid was convicted of the killing of American John Granville and his Sudanese driver, Abdel Rahman Abbas, in Sudan.
Abuzaid was released from custody by authorities on 30 January.
In a statement, US State Department spokesperson Edward Price said there was lack of transparency and honesty from Sudan in the way Abuzaid was released.
"We are deeply troubled by the lack of transparency in the legal process that resulted in the release of the only individual remaining in custody and by the inaccurate assertion that the release was agreed to by the United States government as part of the Sudanese government's settlement of victims' claims in connection with Sudan's removal from the state sponsors of terrorism list in 2020," he added.
As such, the US would seek clarity about Sudan's decision to release Abuzaid.
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The US is offering up to R87 million for information that would lead to the arrest of the other two people implicated in the terrorist attack on Granville and Abbas. The pair worked for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Because of its ties to international terrorist organisations, the US recognised Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993.
Some of its most notable transgressions were habouring Osama bin Laden, the terrorists behind the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the 2000 al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer which was refuelling in Yemen's Aden harbour.
But in 2020, the US removed Sudan from its list of countries sanctioned for sponsoring terrorism.
This a few months after the ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir.
United fight against terrorism
Meanwhile, Somalia hosted neighbours Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya yesterday in a summit poised at planning a united attack on terrorist outfits such as Al Shabaab.
"The summit welcomed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's vision of a comprehensive, all-government approach with a multi-dimensional focus on defeating terrorists through military, finance, and technology," the heads of states of the four countries said in a joint communique.
They also agreed to "make the final push" in areas under the control of terrorists in Somalia and eventually hand over the control to Somalia's National Army.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
