Obama eases ban on dual-use exports to Sudan 'to facilitate' January referendums
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has lifted a ban on U.S. aid and eased dual-use
exports to Sudan in a decision meant to expedite two referendums in
January 2011.
The announcement on Nov. 19 would enable the delivery of
computers to Sudan for United Nations' monitoring of the referendum to
determine the fate of the non-Muslim south.
"I hereby determine it is in the national security interest of the
United States to waive the application of section 908[a] [1] of TSRA [Trade
Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act] to allow export assistance to
be made available for the export of computers and related equipment that
enables the United Nations to facilitate the referendum in Southern Sudan
pursuant to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," the president said in a
memorandum.
The memorandum ordered a waiver of a section of the Trade Sanctions
Reform and Export Enhancement Act from Khartoum. The legislation has banned
U.S. aid and commercial exports to Sudan, which appears on the State
Department's list of terrorist sponsors.
The Obama administration has
offered Sudan a package of incentives that included its removal from the
U.S. list of terrorist sponsors. Khartoum was said to harbor Hamas and other
insurgency groups.
The UN has been administering two referendums, scheduled for Jan. 9. One
vote would determine whether the south secedes from the Muslim north, and
the other concerned the fate of the oil-rich area of Abyei.