The Bush administration said Wednesday it would like to remove Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism but that it will require more action by the Khartoum government. The comments followed a meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail. The half-hour meeting here was a rare example of high-level contact between the two governments, whose ties have been limited because of Sudan’s continued presence on the U.S. terrorism list. But the relationship is improving, propelled by what officials here say has been growing cooperation on the counter-terrorism front and in particular against the al-Qaida organization of Osama bin Laden, who lived in Sudan in the mid-1990s. At a State Department briefing, spokesman Richard Boucher said Secretary Powell and Mr. Ismail discussed what additional steps Sudan might take to be removed from the list, and thus spare the Khartoum government a number U.S. economic penalties. Mr. Boucher said further efforts are required, but he said the United States recognizes that considerable progress has already been made. Full Story
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