Trump imposes visa restrictions against Bashir regime officials

WASHINGTON – The government of the United States on Thursday said it was imposing visa restrictions against former officials of the ousted regime of Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir for allegedly jeopardizing the transition in the country.

According to a statement by the US Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, the Trump Administration is implementing visa restrictions on individuals residing both inside and outside Sudan and who are “responsible for or complicit in, or to have engaged, directly or indirectly, in undermining Sudan’s civilian-led transitional government’s efforts to implement the July 17, 2019, Political Agreement and August 17, 2019, Constitutional Declaration.”

Pompeo reiterated his support for the government of the Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok stressing that they believe that the transitional constitutional declaration provides the “best roadmap” to establish a democratic rule in Sudan.

“Unfortunately, former Bashir-era officials and others continue to undermine Sudan’s nascent democracy,” stressed the statement without elaborating on their identity.

The statement went further to say that the list of the sanctioned individuals “will not be publically available” giving the impression that some of them are still part of the government or linked to one of its components.

It is worth noting that some members of the military component of the transitional government have been accused of taking part in the organisation of the bloody attack on the pro-democracy sit-in of 3 June 2019.

The elements of the former regime seek to use the difficult economic situation in the country to organise protests against Hamdok government.