KHARTOUM: Britain announced almost $55 million in aid to Sudan during a visit by its foreign secretary to Khartoum, the embassy said Thursday.
Dominic Raab announced "the disbursement of 40 million pounds ($54.9 million) to the Sudan Family Support Programme - to provide 1.6 million people with direct financial support," the embassy said in a statement.
Raab arrived in Sudan late Wednesday on the first visit by a British foreign secretary to the East African country in over a decade.
The visit, the embassy said, shows the UK's "support" for Sudan's transition following the April 2019 ouster of president Omar Al-Bashir following months of mass protests against his rule.
Britain's top diplomat met with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, the head of Sudan's ruling council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and other officials.
During his meeting with Hamdok, Raab said the UK was ready to "support Sudan's debt relief once economic reforms are implemented".
Sudan has been undergoing a rocky transition since the ouster of Bashir whose three-decade rule was marked by economic hardship, internal conflicts and international sanctions.
The post-Bashir government has sought to improve its standing among the international community.
In October, it signed a peace agreement with the country's main rebel groups in the hopes of ending long-running conflicts.
It has also been forging closer ties with the United States, and last month, Washington removed Khartoum from its blacklist of "state sponsors of terrorism".
Raab's visit to Sudan comes after days of deadly clashes in the country's troubled Darfur region that left more than 200 people dead and scores wounded.
Earlier this month, Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding with the US to clear Sudan's arrears to the World Bank.
"This move will enable Sudan to regain access to over $1 billion in annual financing from the World Bank for the first time in 27 years," the government said.
UK pledges $55 million in aid during Raab visit to Sudan
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UK pledges $55 million in aid during Raab visit to Sudan
- Raab arrived in Sudan late Wednesday on the first visit by a British foreign secretary to the East African country in over a decade
- During his meeting with Hamdok, Raab said the UK was ready to “support Sudan's debt relief once economic reforms are implemented”
US will prevent Iranian nuclear bomb ‘one way or the other’
- Implicit threat of miitary action but Tehran remains optimistic of deal
TEHRAN, PARIS: The US will prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons “one way or the other,” US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump “believes firmly we cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran,” Wright said as the International Energy Agency met in Paris. “They’ve been very clear about what they would do with nuclear weapons. It’s entirely unacceptable.
“So one way or the other, we are going to end, deter Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapon.”
Despite the implicit threat of military action, which Trump has said is not off the table amid a massive increase in US military forces in the region, Iranian officials remain optimistic that an agreement can be reached after talks in Geneva on Tuesday that Tehran described as “constructive.”
In a call with Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran said was drafting a framework for future talks with Washington. Iran’s focus was on drafting an initial and coherent framework to advance talks with the US, he said. However, US Vice President J.D. Vance said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington’s red lines.
Earlier on Wednesday Reza Najafi, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN nuclear agency in Vienna, met Grossi and the ambassadors of China and Russia “to exchange views” on the forthcoming session of the agency's board of governors and “developments related to Iran’s nuclear program,” Iran’s mission in Vienna said.
Tehran has suspended some cooperation with the agency and restricted the watchdog's inspectors from accessing sites bombed by Israel and the US during a 12-day war in June. It accuses the UN body of bias and of failing to condemn the strikes.
