DUBAI -- Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman said on Monday the Kingdom will continue in its efforts to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This came in a phone call he had with the head of Sudan's Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. The Crown Prince also stressed the Kingdom's keenness on the security and stability of Sudan. Saudi Arabia had asked the United States in January to remove Sudan for its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The US had designated Sudan a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993, due to allegations that then-President Omar Al-Bashir's government was supporting terrorist groups. The designation prevents Sudan from receiving debt relief and financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The US Congress' approval is required for a country to be removed from the list. In a step toward normalizing ties, Sudan appointed an ambassador to the US for the first time in almost 25 years. The poor African country currently has 1,526 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 74 fatalities, according to the Johns Hopkins tally. There is growing concern, that like other poor countries in Africa, the healthcare sector and economy are ill-equipped to handle a large outbreak of COVID-19 cases. Sudan's Minister of Health Akram Ali Altom had told Reuters in early April that the country needed approximately $120 million to combat the coronavirus outbreak. -- Al Arabiya English
