Sudan says it has been taken off the terror list by Trump administration

President Donald Trump' s administration has removed Sudan from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, the US embassy in Khartoum said, in a move that could help the African country get international loans to revive its battered economy and end its pariah status.

According to a Facebook post by the embassy, Sudan's removal was effective as of Monday.

A notification to that effect, signed by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, would be published in the Federal Register, it said, adding that the 45-day congressional notification period has lapsed.

"This achievement comes with numerous opp or tunities for Sudan's development," tweeted prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, adding that his country" officially" rejoined the international com muni ty as a" peaceful nation supporting global stability" after nearly three - decade of isolation.

The designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism dates back to the 1990s, when Sudan briefly hosted al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other wanted militants.

Sudan was also believed to have served as a pipeline for Iran to supply weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Delisting Sudan is also a key incentive for the government in Khartoum to normalise relations with Israel.

The two countries have agreed to have full diplomatic ties, making Sudan the third Arab state, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to move to normalise relations with Israel this year.

After Sudan, Morocco also established diplomatic ties with Israel.

Sudanese General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, hailed the move as" historic decision" by Mr Trump's administration.

He tweeted on Monday that delisting Sudan would "contribute to supporting the democratic transition".

Sudan is on a fragile transition to democracy following an up rising that led to the militar y's ousting of former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The county is now ruled by a joint military and civilian government that seeks better ties with Washington and the West.

In October, Mr Trump announced that he would remove Sudan from the list if it follows through on its pledge to pay 335 million US dollars to American terror victims and their families.

Sudan has agreed to pay compensation for victims of the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks carried out by al Qaida while bin Laden was living in Sudan.

According to the October announcement, once the compensation money was deposited, Mr Trump was to sign an order removing Sudan from the terrorism list on which it has languished under heavy American sanctions for 27 years.

The Sudanese government also inked an agreement with the US that could effectively stop any future compensation claims being filed against the African country in US courts.

That deal restore sin US courts sovereign immunity to the Sudanese government.