WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There is no evidence to justify Sudan's presence on a U.S. terrorism blacklist, a senior American official said on Thursday, recommending that Washington eventually "unwind" some sanctions against Khartoum.
Sudan, along with Cuba, Iran and Syria, is designated as a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the U.S. State Department and is subject to sanctions, including restrictions on aid.
General Scott Gration, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told lawmakers he did not know of any intelligence to justify Sudan's terror listing and suggested the sanctions were counterproductive to efforts to bring peace to Sudan.
"There is no evidence in our intelligence community that supports (Sudan) being on the state sponsors of terrorism list," Gration said. "It's a political decision."
The retired Air Force general's mandate is to try to sustain a 2005 peace accord that ended a two-decade civil war between Sudan's north and south and to help restore stability to the western Darfur region after years of fighting between government and rebel forces.
The north-south peace deal established an interim period, with a coalition government between the Muslim north and mostly Christian south and the sharing of oil wealth. It ends in 18 months with a referendum in the south on whether to secede.
"We are actually hurting the very development things we need to do help the south become ... if they chose to secede, a viable economic state," Gration said, noting that Washington could not bring in heavy equipment to build roads and railways.
"At some point we are going to have to unwind some of these sanctions so that we can do the very things that we need to do to ensure a peaceful transition and a state that's viable in the (south) should they choose to do that," he added.
In its latest report, the State Department described Sudan as "a cooperative partner in global counterterrorism efforts."
Gration said a U.S. policy review on Sudan was likely to be completed in a few weeks and Washington needed a relationship with Khartoum to deal with the north-south and Darfur issues.
He said violence in Darfur has decreased recently in part because Sudan and Chad are moderating their "proxy war," a reference to support for insurgents on each other's territory.
"It's getting significantly better," Gration said, it appeared that in the last month there had been 16 violent deaths in the region of which 12 were related to crime.
Darfur's six-year conflict erupted when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government, accusing it of neglecting the development of the region.
Estimates of the resulting death toll range from 10,000 according to Khartoum, to 300,000 according to U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.
(Editing by Chris Wilson)
